Separation (26 page)

“I am usually right.”

Harry went over to the spot and felt along
with his hands. His fingers touched something metallic, hard, and
circular. It was a ring, and he pulled back on it. Immediately, a
door slid open. It must have been well-oiled, as it gave off nary a
sound. “This is the place,” Istvan said softly.

After a moment’s hesitation, they entered and
the trapdoor slid shut behind them. Immediately, they were plunged
into darkness, and even with his enhanced night vision, Harry
couldn’t make out anything around him. Training his ears to pick up
any unusual noises, he heard absolutely nothing. “I cannot see,”
Istvan complained.

“Grab my hand,” Harry said, and led the
way.

Moving slowly, they picked their way down the
stairs. As they descended, Harry stooped over and felt the stone,
noting its smoothness and the precision with which it had been
carved. Someone had been paying attention to details.

Istvan murmured something in Hungarian. “What
did you say?” Harry asked.

“It is old poem about being alone in dark at
night.” Istvan’s voice sounded fearful, but stopped short of being
all-out terrified. “It goes like this.”

We are on a secret trip,

Sitting in darkness and surrounded by
stars

On our planet, our old and lonely world

We are fleeing certain peril, yet greet
it,

And so our enemies come to us, quietly,
stealthily,

They come to steal our breath away.

To Harry’s ears, it sounded like bad poetry,
but who was he to question? If it gave Istvan a measure of comfort,
then he was not about to deny him that right. “It’s...
interesting,” he finally decided to say.

“No, it is gloomy and sad, but I think of it
just now.” Istvan suddenly jerked his head up. “I can smell
something.”

“Is it human?”

“No.”

Just one word, but it was enough to send
Harry’s pulse rate soaring and he told himself to get ready. After
what seemed like a mini-eternity, they reached bottom. There,
Harry’s fingers found a light switch. “Cover your eyes,” he
ordered. “It might be bright here.”

As he flicked the switch, a light did come
on, but it was a dull yellow color and of low intensity. They’d
entered a laboratory, with numerous tables loaded with instruments,
up-to-date and very advanced, instruments on them. Harry recognized
centrifuges, DNA mixers and differentiators—no less than three
different models—strand reorganizers, and more. He also saw a
desktop with a recombinant DNA program running, and went over to
check on the particulars. What he saw filled him with disgust
combined with fear.

Istvan walked over and gazed
uncomprehendingly at the data. “Is this place where they make
people?”

Assuming this science tested out, it would
create an aberration, something even worse than the current version
of Allenby. “No, this is where they make monsters. Let’s move.”

With Harry taking the lead, creeping along,
they ventured further down the path and came to a door of solid
iron. Harry pulled gently on the handle. It creaked open and he
stopped every few seconds, listening for the sound of approaching
footsteps. Nothing but his breathing echoed softly off the
walls.

Inhaling deeply, he smelled chemicals and
musty air. While this underground lab undoubtedly had air vents, it
also had circulation problems. An aroma of body odor and sweat
filtered through to his nostrils. Unusual though, it had the aroma
of... wet dog. They were here. Istvan must have smelled it as well,
as he started to shake. “I smell them,” he said.

“Calm down.” Harry tried to slow his own
rapidly pounding heart, and partially succeeded by drawing in a few
deep breaths. “Follow me.”

Going through the door, he came to a ledge
with an elevator attachment. Over a hundred feet below lay a
cavern, an immense space roughly the size of a football field and
possibly larger. Numerous thick cables like engorged pythons
traversed the walls, and an uncountable number of machines, Genesis
Chambers, and other scientific apparatuses dotted the floor. Tables
held desktop computers, the latest models on the market.

Another larger chamber took up roughly five
square feet by his estimation. Allenby was truly into upgrading.
Part of Harry’s mind, the scientific, make-advances-in-medicine
part, wondered about its purpose, but the other part, the rational,
sane part, saw it as something to be destroyed, along with its
maker if necessary.

On the ground, ten transgenic hybrid
creations wandered around as if on guard duty. They were heavily
armed, carrying machine guns and pistols. He heard their grunts and
hoarse voices, but saw no sign of Anastasia.

“What we do now,” Istvan wanted to know,
tugging on Harry’s pant leg.

Descend, for one thing, and find Anastasia,
for another. “We take a look.”

Riding the elevator down was a sure path for
disaster. It probably made a lot of noise and the last thing they
needed was the attention, although Allenby had to be aware of an
impending attack. To an outsider, it would seem foolish. He’d given
away his position, but perhaps thought, arrogantly so, that he was
prepared to repel any attack. He’d certainly been prepared in
Spain. It was doubtful he’d make any mistakes.

Thinking fast, Harry kicked off his shoes,
hopped over the rail and checked the underside of the elevator.
Sure enough, it had a thick metal cable that led to the ground.
“Climb onto my back,” he whispered to Istvan. “I’ll take you
down.”

Doubt painted Istvan’s face, but there seemed
to be no choice. “Hurry,” Harry urged, and his friend clambered
over the rail and latched onto his neck. Grabbing the cable, Harry
shinnied down, his breathing even and his muscles hardly straining.
As he descended, he made out the misshapen forms of five guards
directly below and halted. Istvan whimpered, but Harry hushed him.
“The guards are below us. Quiet!”

Istvan shut his mouth, they waited, and once
the guards had passed, Harry spotted an empty space behind some
machines that looked to be generators, and let go. The air rushed
by and the pig-man let out another whimper as they fell. Controlled
falling, Harry thought, and like his feline counterparts, he landed
on his feet. “We’re here. You can let go now.”

Immediately, Istvan got off his shoulders and
scampered over to a corner in order to hide behind one of the
machines. Peeking out from behind the machines—his guess had been
right, they were generators—he saw Allenby emerge from the side of
the rock. His genius had managed to carve out rooms deep within the
earth. He gestured to three of his minions, cockroach-bodied things
with vaguely human faces, and they immediately scuttled off.

He then strode forward, and his legs, more
like tree trunks than anything else, caused the ground to tremble.
As he approached, Harry’s heart began to hammer. Allenby had
mutated even more, grown taller and heavier. The calcifications
around his eyes had solidified into what looked like solid
bone.

As for his body, the extra arms on his torso
had indeed lengthened and thickened as well. Cords of muscle stood
out from his torso and rippled with each stride he took, and menace
seemed to ooze from every pore. His eyes, still a demonic red,
glowed with an almost supernatural intensity, and seemed to swallow
up every object they rested on. It was like watching a mutated
super-villain check out his domain.

God, what am I supposed to do now? And
where’s Anastasia?
Harry’s mind whirled. Taking on a mutant
like Szabo was one thing, but taking on some almost otherworldly...
thing
like this... doubt swept through him like a tidal
wave.

A second later, though, determination shone
through and replaced the fear. His wife was being held captive by
this maniac. She was carrying their child.
I made a promise. I’m
taking my wife and friends out of here. This thing won’t stop
me.

“Goldman,” Allenby whispered. He’d uttered
that one word quietly. Nevertheless, it rang out along the walls, a
deep, sepulchral sound guaranteed to send a shiver down the spine
of the bravest individual. “I know you’re here. I can smell you.
It’s the smell of fear. Step out into the light where I can see
you.”

Knowing it would have eventually come to
this, Harry did as requested, keeping a fair distance away and
taking note of his surroundings. Allenby, though, stayed put and
waved his arm at the array of machinery. “I suppose it’s a cliché
to ask if you like what I’ve done to this place.”

“It’s impressive. Where’s my wife?”

A smirk briefly passed over Allenby’s ugly,
mottled features. “To answer your statement, so it is. As to your
question, she’s safe... for now. You’ll see her soon enough. You
and I, we have business to attend to first.”

While Harry raged inwardly, outwardly he
attempted to keep calm. There was nothing he could do and nowhere
to go. Allenby, seemingly unconcerned, began to walk around,
explaining how he’d set everything up over a number of years. “As
was the case with my little house in France, I started my rise to
power a number of years back. I had a dream of being a leader in
medicine and science, planning things accordingly. When I saw the
chance at finding a place where I’d be undisturbed—here—I took
it.”

“You bought this land and made this
cavern?”

“I did.” Allenby swept his hand around. “I
admit it isn’t the most beautiful place around, but it serves me
well enough. The power comes from the dynamos at the nearby dam.
I’ve developed a system to siphon it off. The authorities haven’t
figured it out.”

“I managed to,” Harry answered. “That is, the
FBI did.”

“So they did,” glowered Allenby. “Well, they
can try to come here. They’ll find it more difficult to enter, I
can assure you.”

Harry should have been shocked, but wasn’t. A
number of curses ran through his head at light speed, all of them
essentially saying he’d been an utter idiot for having simply
walked in. Of course there had been no cameras, no motion sensors,
no tripwires... or they’d been temporarily disabled in order to
allow access.

“Yes, I turned my alarm systems off,” Allenby
said as if reading his mind. “They’re on again, and if anyone tries
to breach that door, they’ll either be blown up by hidden bombs or
cut down by lasers. If that doesn’t work, my loyal subjects will
emerge and destroy them.”

As Harry digested this, Allenby continued to
talk, this time discussing the function of each machine he’d set
up, the pride evident in his voice. He knew the details of each and
every device and rattled off scientific data.

His mood, though, turned dark when he beheld
his visage in some reflective glass on one of the Genesis Chambers.
“I could have become a god instead of this.” He swept his
hands—they also had a number of bony protrusions on the knuckles—up
and down his body. “You made me this.”

“No, you did.” It was time to shove the truth
in this monster’s face. “I left you the memory stick. You didn’t
check the calculations. Whose fault was that? You wanted too much,
too fast. And I can’t give you what I don’t have. I don’t know why
the devolution occurs, but you won’t get the answers from Istvan’s
blood. If I can’t find out why, how are you going to?”

An evil smile crept across Allenby’s face. He
snapped his fingers. One of his men, another goat-like patch job,
came forward and held up a squealing Istvan. “Take a good look at
my latest prisoner. I’m going to find out how to solve the
breakdown in immune response if I have to drain every bit of blood
from this little pig. If I have to dissect his body while he’s
still alive, that’s what I’ll do as well. Science marches on.”

Snapping his fingers, his minion took the
still-protesting Istvan away. In a quick movement, Allenby turned
and walked over to the upgraded Genesis Chamber.

“Don’t worry about your pig friend,” he said.
“He won’t be harmed, at least for now. I want you to take a look at
this vessel I’ve constructed,” he instructed. “This is what the
next step in evolution will be. Even though I’m currently a freak,
this is what will turn me into a god.”

It looked much more detailed than the other
chambers. Harry cautiously approached it, and after checking out
the upgrades, he had an inkling of what it could do. Allenby
obliged him by going over to one of the desktop computers and
tapping out a series of commands. “Take a look for yourself.”

Doing so, Harry looked at what seemed to be
an extremely long and ultra-complicated DNA chain. Shock flowed
through him when he realized what the endgame in all of this was.
The coding was all wrong and it contained too many...

“Your power input is higher and the DNA
you’re using...” Glancing at Allenby, who by now was nodding his
head, his worst thoughts were confirmed. “You’re going to combine
all of the genotypes?”

“Every single one,” Allenby beamed. His grin,
though, looked anything but merry. It made a gargoyle look
positively GQ-ish. “Not only will I have the intelligence of a
superior man, I’ll have the looks as well. This misshapen vessel is
what you’ve given me, Goldman.” He swept his hands up and down his
torso.

“However, I can now reshape my body as well
as those of my followers to anything I desire. I’ll have all of the
strength, speed, and regenerative abilities anyone could want, but
I’ll look human and at the same time, become something more than
human.”

Simultaneously thunderstruck and scared by
the prospect of this device actually working, Harry attempted to
find out more. “And what about the cloning experiments?”

“What of them? I’ll continue to do what I
wish to do and refine the process. First, though, I’m going to make
myself something to worship.”