Synthetic: Dark Beginning (16 page)

“But we haven’t learned a thing except that Caleb loves his bedroom. I could have told you that.”

“On the contrary,” said Gus, waving a finger in the air, “we’ve located the very room that holds your transceiver.”

Ivan rolled his eyes. “If it were in his bedroom, I would have run across it by now.”

“Is Caleb up? Do you think we can go have a look?”

“I suppose.  He’s watching TV right now.”

They could hear cartoons blaring when they entered the hall.  Caleb's hearing was getting worse every month so Ivan had to keep turning up the volume.  “I’m back.” He tugged on Caleb's colossal arm, but the giant continued to stare at the screen where a cartoon dog with bloodshot eyes had just yanked his own brain out of his skull.

“Are these toons really good for a giant his age?” asked Gus, gaping at the screen.

“He loves Ren and Stimpy.”

Gus inspected the numerous shelves lining the walls. “I forgot how many toys he has.”

Ivan hoisted a gigantic pair of boxer shorts up off the floor and deposited them in the hamper. “He made most of them himself. Let me show you.” Ivan swung a ladder attached to a track over the shelves until it lined up against one that was less crowded than the others. He climbed up to the top and brought down a bright, purple box. “This is one he made for me in my first year.”

Gus watched, fascinated, as Ivan pressed a button and a metal cylinder rose from the top and started to spin, projecting a holographic animation of a charming village surrounding a castle as ragtime piano music filled the air. Ivan pulled a wired glove over his hand, held it before the cylinder, and a giant with long, ragged hair appeared before a group of smiling goblins dressed in rags. Ivan moved his fingers and the giant ran after the goblins who danced ahead of him in a lively chase through an old-fashioned village. Gus laughed until the giant caught up with a goblin, pinned him to the ground with a massive foot, whipped out a jagged blade, and knifed the creature to death.  Ivan always loved how the piano music seamlessly transitioned into a funeral dirge.

“Very impressive,” said Gus when Ivan stopped the game. “Personally, I would prefer the giant gave the goblin an affectionate noogie every time he caught him, but Caleb was definitely a talented toy maker.”

“I spent hours playing this game.” Ivan smiled fondly at the cylinder as he set it back in the box and climbed the ladder, giving the shelf a thorough dusting before returning it to the same spot. When he returned to the floor, his usual scowl was back in place. “So what do I have to say to get rid of you?”

“Let’s talk about Ruby’s relationship with Caleb.”

Ivan climbed a tall chair across from Caleb where his old lite-brite sat in front of him. “She doesn’t even notice Caleb unless he’s standing in her way, and then she just yells at him until he moves. I know at one time he was important to her—he’s still the main beneficiary in her will—but now that he’s little more than a baby, she has no use for him.”

“I always assumed Ruby would leave everything to Vaughn.”

“Well, she doesn’t plan on dying, does she?  So she never bothered to update her will from thirty years ago.”

Gus snapped back into detective mode and sauntered around the room with his hands behind his back.  “What was this room like during your childhood?”

Ivan groaned.  “I have no idea. What sort of question is that?”

“I want you to think back. What was already here when you explored it for the first time?”

Ivan pulled a crayon from a nearby box and fiddled with it. “I can’t remember.”

“Meditate on it for a minute. Relax and try to think.”

Ivan ground his teeth as he snapped the crayon in half, pretending in his mind that it was Gus's twisted spine. “How the hell am I supposed to relax when you’re asking me all these stupid questions?”

Gus found the remnant of a donut in his pocket and Ivan watched in disgust as he popped it into his mouth. “Let me ask you this last question and then I need to get out of here.”

“And do what? Calibrate the coffee machine for the hundredth time this morning?”

“Better than getting nowhere up here with you,” said Gus, anger flaring on his face for the first time.

Though this interrogation was ridiculous and pointless, Ivan enjoyed insulting the hunchback. He could feel his dark mood lifting. “Fine. Ask your dumb questions.”

“When you bitch and moan about how miserable you are, and how one of these days Ruby is going to turn your brain into a smoothie, what does Caleb do—anything?”

“No. He doesn’t do a damn thing and I’m sick—” Ivan’s face went blank as his eyes settled on the lite-brite.  He glanced up at Gus and then back down at the toy again.

Gus followed the direction of Ivan’s stare. “What?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Tell me.”

“I can’t.”

“It might be important.”

“It’s not.”

“I’m beginning to understand why Vaughn strangles you all the time. Out with it!”

“Fine.” Ivan writhed in his chair as if the seat was suddenly burning him. Gus was the worst gossip in the entire castle and had a bizarre knack for spotting a lie. He should have gotten rid of him when he had the chance. Now he'd be stuck with the wretch until he told the truth.  “Whenever I complain about this thing in my head, Caleb makes a funny drawing on his lite-brite to cheer me up.” Ivan pointed at the metal box, the pegs gleaming in the sunlight streaming through a small window high above.

Gus bent over to look at the back of the toy.  The idiot had obviously never seen a lite-brite before.  “What sort of a drawing?”
he asked.

“A picture of me.” Ivan grabbed the toy and turned it to face Gus. “See? It’s already partly done.”

Gus studied the black screen that showed a pair of stubby legs.  He then looked over at Caleb who sat slumped in his chair, his eyes hooded by heavy lids as he stared at the TV with his mouth hanging open. Gus hobbled over to the TV, switched it off, and Caleb’s jaw closed as his eyes came back into focus. “Caleb, can you finish the picture you were making on the lite-brite?” Gus held pegs out before the giant like candies. Caleb stared at the chunks of plastic in Gus’s hand, a string of drool dripping from his lips, but made no move to grab them.

“He’s still out of it,” said Ivan, catching the drool with a tissue. “A snack might wake him up.”

“Can you show me what this picture looks like on paper?” asked Gus.

Ivan was going to be stuck with the insufferable hunchback all night.  “I can’t draw.”

“Can you describe it to me?”

“I don’t see how that could help anything.”

“That’s for me to decide.”

Ivan glared at Gus like a cornered possum. “In the drawing, I’m always doing a dance…under a rainbow.”

“Really?” Gus burst into giggles.

“I will not continue with this pointless charade if you’re going to make fun of me.”

“I won’t,” said Gus, making an effort to control himself. “This might be important. Show me what it looks like.” He shoved paper and the box of crayons toward Ivan from the center of the table.

“I can try, but he always makes it on the lite-brite and I have no patience with that damn thing.”

Ivan reluctantly snatched a green crayon from the box, drawing in angry jerks as he grumbled under his breath. After several minutes, he pushed a drawing over to Gus where a tiny, dark-haired man leaped joyously in the air beneath a multi-colored rainbow.

Gus burst into laughter and wiped tears from his eyes while Ivan sat with a murderous look on his face. “This interview is over,” said Ivan.

“Wait!” Gus instantly sobered. “How come you have black hair here?”

“My hair is naturally black. I die it blond.”

“Oh?” Gus stared at Ivan's head for a minute. “I would never have guessed.  How long have you been doing that?”

“Nine years.”

“Consistently?”

“Yes. I hate black hair. That’s Ruby’s thing, not mine.”

“So why do you have black hair in this picture? Wouldn’t Caleb have drawn you with blond hair if that’s how it usually is?”

“How the hell should I know? Maybe he’s hinting that he wants me to go back to my natural color.”

“Ivan—this drawing has a purpose beyond just cheering you up.” Gus pulled the lite-brite across the table. “I didn’t realize how heavy these things are.”

“I’m sure Caleb broke the original. Toys are always made of cheap plastic and Caleb accidentally breaks things all the time because he's so strong. His versions are always much sturdier and more exciting.”

“Were you around when he made this industrial strength lite-brite?”

“No, that’s been here for ages. One of his original toys.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere.” Gus scrutinized the metal box. “So just to be clear, Caleb would arrange that picture you just drew on this lite-brite every time you complained about that thing in your head?”

Ivan thought about this. “Not every single time, but if we were in here playing together and Ruby screamed into my brain because her bathroom was out of toilet paper or something, he’d make that picture for me. Very sweet as long as no one else saw.”

“Let’s try making it ourselves.” Gus pulled a large tray of pegs from a slot in the metal siding. The two set to work examining the drawing and arranging the pegs on the black screen. Caleb watched their progress with mild curiosity, occasionally tilting his head to the side.

“You need to just let me do it.” Ivan batted Gus’s hands out of the way.  The ridiculous hunchback was pressing pegs willy-nilly into the board.

“But it’s just so fun,” cried Gus, who finally backed off when Ivan gave him a swift jab in the shoulder.

Left alone, Ivan managed to create a rough reproduction of his drawing on the screen. Gus plugged in the long cord while Ivan flipped the switch. The odd picture lit up and they both stared at the box for a minute, but nothing unusual happened.

Gus clapped his hands together. “It just fills the heart with joy, doesn’t it?”

Ivan shook his head at the picture.  “When Caleb does it, the end result is like a disco party.”

“Wow. I wish I could see.” Gus circled the lite-brite and ran his hands over the smooth metal. He unscrewed the main panel and made a thorough search of the inside. “There’s a thick metal compartment, right here, that seems to serve no purpose. Maybe that’s where he hid the transceiver.”

“Can we smash it open?”

“Would Caleb mind?”

“Of course,” said Ivan. “He loves this damn thing, but if the transceiver is in there, I’ll crush it with my bare hands.”

Caleb rose out of his chair with a loud rumble and reached across the table to drag his lite-brite away from Ivan. Then he methodically set to work rearranging the tiny pegs across the black screen. Ivan froze for what was probably the quietist ten minutes of his entire life. When Caleb finished, he turned the lite-brite around to face them.

Ivan had never felt happier to see the humiliating image.  “That’s it. That’s the picture!”

Caleb reached around the side, flipped the switch, and lively Irish music filled the room as a cartoon Ivan began a fast-paced jig on the black screen below a shimmering rainbow. A tiny slot at the bottom yawned open like the mouth of a hungry fish. It was so small that if both Ivan and Gus hadn’t been staring intently at the toy, they would have missed it.

“There,” Gus cried, pointing at the opening.  Ivan leaned forward in disbelief as Gus shoved his fingers into the slot, but they were too big to grab anything. “Quick Ivan—this requires tiny fingers.”

Ivan jammed his pinky into the narrow opening and felt something press against it. He pushed it against the side and slid out a metal object the size of a pen.  “The transceiver!” Ivan waved it in the air like a magic wand. “It’s been in this goddamn box all these years.” He jumped up and down in time with the happy elf dancing on the lite-brite and then leapt into Caleb’s open arms.

“I told you Caleb wasn’t making this drawing to cheer you up,” hollered Gus over the blaring music. “He was trying to show you the hiding spot for the transceiver. He set this all up while Ruby was still making you, which is why you have black hair in the picture.”

Ivan laid his head against Caleb’s chest as the giant cuddled him. “I’ve been so stupid. All this time he’s been trying to help me and I just didn’t listen. I don’t know how to thank you, Gus.” Ivan’s eyes were so wet with tears that his makeup had smeared down his wrinkled cheeks. He knew he must look like a shriveled clown, but he didn't care. “I’m sorry for thinking you such a worthless, crippled, annoying bastard all these years.”

Gus beamed at him. “I was glad to help, but the true hero here is Caleb. There’s a hell of a lot more going on in that big head than we thought.”

Chapter 18

The first thing Kora noticed when she entered the lab the next morning was Vaughn's gurney. Ishmael hadn't broken it down and put everything away. Maybe he sensed that she'd want to keep it there for a while, like a shrine. 

“Good morning,” said Gus, whipping into the lab from the direction of his cell. He snatched up his pot and headed for the sink.

“When did you get up?”

“I didn't go to bed. I hung out with Ivan all night.” He pointed at the food cart. “Ruby packed him off down here to spy on us.”

“Breakfast!” Kora rushed over to the cart and grabbed some cold, hard bread.  A few days ago, she would have sneered at all this old food but now she circled the cart like a vulture. “I thought you two didn’t like each other.”

“We do now. I helped him find his transceiver.”

“His what?” asked Kora, tearing into the bread with her teeth.

“Part of a device Ruby jammed into his head that allows her to scramble his brain like a little omelet if he doesn’t do what he’s told.”

“I didn’t know she did that sort of thing.”

“Doesn’t surprise me. She probably dumped all sorts of crap into Ivan just so she wouldn’t have to walk across her lab to the trashcan. But lucky for him, Caleb designed it in this crazy-ass way so all communication goes through an external thingy. That’s what I helped him find.”

“So if he destroys this thingy, his brain will no longer receive her signals?”

“Bitchings is more like it. But here’s the truly interesting part.  Are you listening?”

“You have my full attention,” said Kora, drilling her eyes into him as she chewed like a horse.

“Caleb hid the transceiver in one of his toys and the password to open the secret compartment was a goofy drawing of Ivan doing a jig under a rainbow.”

Kora laughed. “So this is your big
I told you so
.”

“Of course it is! I was right, dammit. I told you that I was going to show that Caleb’s drawings have meaning, and this is solid proof. It’s like breaking the codes of a super-genius three-year-old. The last thing in the world Ruby is going to pay any attention to are toys and kids drawings.  Caleb knew this about her which means—” Gus drew the dreadful picture of the mutant woman out of his pocket and held it up, “that this picture is a major clue.”

Kora shifted her eyes away from the miserable drawing. “Maybe it's a picture of Mud.”  

“Though unconventional, Mud is most likely a man's name and this is, undoubtedly, a lady mutant. Besides, Mud only had one eye and this dame has two. There's no way this is a picture of Mud.” 

“Hmmm.” She continued to stare out the window and didn't answer. She wished, more than anything, that Gus would drop this whole thing with the drawing.

“Are you listening to anything I'm saying?” asked Gus.

Kora stood up too quickly and all the blood drained from her head.  “I need some fresh air.” 

Gus put out a hand to steady her.  “Okay there, soldier?” Kora nodded, but she felt like she was going to be sick unless she got out of that room.  “I know just the place to get some air,” continued Gus. “The roof.”

“Why there?”

“Humphrey lives up there and I thought he might know something about the drawing. He's been here even longer than Caleb.”

“He lives on the roof?”

“He’s sort stuck to the side of the castle like a crusty old barnacle.”

Kora wiped her sweaty hands on a cloth, her eyes still lingering on the window. “Any excuse to get outside.”

Gus raided the cart and pocketed the remaining donuts.  Then he led her down the hall to a panel more worn that the others. “You give it a try, like I showed you yesterday.”

Kora gave the panel a swift hit but nothing happened.

“Try again, though softer, with a little more finesse.”

She whacked it two more times but it still didn’t budge. “I wish I had a sledge hammer.”

“Maybe it’s a good thing you don’t live here full time.” Gus slapped the panel and it slid open.

“That’s exactly what I did,” said Kora.

Gus pulled a torch down off the wall and led her into the passage. The tunnel flowed straight at first, but grew wider as tributaries from other parts of the house fed into it. After a hundred yards, it swerved into a tight spiral that emptied into a large cavern where the ceiling sparkled with mineral deposits. A heavy oak stairwell squatted in the center of this cave, each post carved with a fierce sea monster while whales spouted into the air at the top of each landing. Great ships sailed up and down the railings as if the stairs themselves were a wooden sea.

“These are amazing,” said Kora. “But what are they doing in this dingy cave?”

Gus stood on the bottom step and cleared his throat like a tour guide. “These were to be the main stairs leading from the living room up to the bedrooms, but Ruby rejected them so Humphrey had to start over. He didn’t want to waste such fine craftsmanship, so he had them assembled here in the tunnels.”

“How could she reject these?” Kora lovingly ran her hand over the dusty carving of a mermaid poking her head out of the waves.

“Ruby just got sick of all the sea crap. Can’t blame her because it really is everywhere.  Humphrey's a bit of an old salt when it comes to home decor.”

Kora followed Gus up the stairs and paused on one of landings where piles of boxes lined the walls of a dim corridor. “What’s down there?”

“This floor is where Ruby keeps her Egyptian collection and her Bosch and Bruegel paintings. Every rich goth girl needs those, of course.”

“What’s in the boxes?”

“Junk. She has a massive room down there packed with her collection of movie props and costumes. It’s a total mess. The coolest things in there are her monster models.  Before she made a mutant, she'd mold a prototype so she'd get all the scary bits right.”

“She did that with
all
of them?”

“According to Humphrey.”

“Can we have a look?”

“We can take a peek on the way back if we have time.”

They passed five more landings until they reached the top where Gus hooked a ladder to the edge of a round skylight that peered down from the roof like a bright eye.  He pressed a button and it popped open revealing the sky high above.  Kora took a huge breath of fresh air and instantly felt better.

“After you,” said Gus with a bow.

She climbed the ladder and stepped out onto a roof that curved like the back of a vast dinosaur covered in plates of armor. “Amazing.”

“It’s hot as hell up here, but damn impressive,” said Gus, grabbing her hand so he could pull himself up. “Makes you realize how big the castle is.”

“There’s my dome.” Kora pointed to a glass bubble flashing in the distance. “Let’s go look at it.”

“Not for too long. We still need to find Humphrey.”

“You don’t know where he is?”

“He moves around. We need to look for his shack which could be dangling pretty much anywhere.”

“I remember seeing a trailer high up the wall when I arrived two days ago.  Was that his house?”

“Above the service entrance? It’s probably still there. He usually stays in one spot for at least a week until his construction project is over.”  Gus raised his arm like a compass. “We need to head toward the northeast wall.”

“You said I could look at the dome, remember?” Without waiting for an answer, Kora ran across the roof. When she reached the edge of the glass, she crouched down and peered into her lab, far below, where Ishmael was squiggling across the floor from the fridge carrying a load of fish.  She watched him expertly laser the meat into fillets, then arrange them across a metal tray.

“Something interesting going on down there?” asked Gus. He edged close, but she could tell the dome freaked him out.

“Just Ishmael eating lunch.  Let’s get going.”

They hiked over the roof, the tiles growing warmer as the morning sun rose higher in the sky. Another mound, much taller than her glass dome, swelled before them and Kora scampered halfway up before Gus could stop her.

“Be careful,” he called.

“What is this big lump, anyway?”

“I think it’s the dome in the living room.”

When Kora reached the top, she felt as if she stood at the peak of a great mountain. “It’s amazing, Gus. You should come up. The ocean is so clear today, I feel as if I could reach out and touch Catalina.”

“You’re making me nervous,” Gus shouted.

“I’m coming down.” Kora galloped down the dome and when she’d nearly reached the bottom, she took a flying leap high into the air. Gus watched, open-mouthed, as she tumbled down the tiles and landed in heap at the bottom.

He helped her back to her feet and brushed off her skirt.  Kora looked down at herself.  She was covered in dirt and stains and didn't even care.

“What the hell were you thinking?” asked Gus.

“I thought I could make it. I ran like the wind a few days ago when Vaughn was chasing me.”

“What? Vaughn chased you?” Gus grabbed her shoulders. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

“It wasn’t a big deal.”  She thought about telling him how she'd hurled the vampire thirty feet, but decided to keep it quiet.
 The whole adrenaline excuse seemed unlikely. There was only one kind of creature who could perform such a feat...

“You experienced one of my top five erotic dreams and didn’t think I’d be interested?”

“It wasn’t like that.”

“Yes it was. You’re just too much of a tight-ass to see things clearly.”

“What did you just call me?” Kora brushed his hands off of her.

“Oh come on Kora! Vaughn never chases anyone.  Ever. It’s always the other way around. You have no idea how lucky you are.”

“He thought I was an intruder.”

“Yeah right. Like he’s really going to think about security when some hot new girl pops up on the property.”

“I’m not here to hook up with anyone, especially a synthetic former vampire.”

“Former?”

Kora stopped walking and looked at Gus. “I switched Vaughn’s stomach with that of Ruby's synthetic last night. He’s no longer a vampire. I wanted to tell you, but we’ve been in such a rush this morning.”

Gus looked as if he might swallow his tongue. “No way. Really? He’s a normal guy now?”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“So does that mean he has some super-hero stomach that can metabolize marbles or pints of Olestra?”

“You’ll have to ask him about that.”

Kora tried to walk off again but Gus grabbed her wrist. “Not so fast.  No woman would bother to fix a man’s digestive system if she wasn’t in love with him.”

“I did it so I can get my work done.”

“Right. You’ve been working real hard since you got here, haven’t you? I noticed Ruby's synthetic still has Dumbo ears and I bet you haven’t even put Vaughn's stomach in yet. It’s probably just wadded up in a paper towel in the corner of the fridge.”

Kora looked away. Vaughn’s old stomach was properly packed but Gus was right, she hadn’t put it into the synthetic yet. “I’ll do it just as soon as we get back.”

Gus shook his head. “So that’s your solution? Getting back to work? You need to get laid, Kora. It’s like a neon arrow pointing straight down at your head.”

“Worry about your own love life, Gus.”

“If there was a cute guy out there capable of falling for a hump the size of Sacramento, I’d be all over him. Vaughn’s into you and you’re not even trying. What’s the use of having a memory if you never do anything worth remembering?” Kora stalked off with Gus limping furiously after her. “The only reason you're going to marry Randall is because he owns your job and you're nothing without it, are you?”

She rounded on Gus with her fists clenched at her sides. “At Mirafield, my life made sense.  I was a revered synthetics designer with my own beautiful, clean penthouse and a huge, billion-dollar lab.  Here, I live in a filthy bedroom with no windows and I can't get anything done because I have an annoying hunchback chattering at me all the time.”

Gus searched her eyes. “And here I thought we were friends.”

Kora pressed a fist against her forehead. “Gus, I'm sorry it's just—I don't belong here.”

He shrugged, his face like stone. “I get it. Things are too messy for you here. You'd rather go back to your heavenly life at the top of Mirafield, dressed in your tidy whities, where you can churn out your perfect angels.”

Kora closed her eyes and shook her head.  Why didn't anyone understand?  “That's what I should want, but instead I'm here with you on the castle roof, trying to track down a half-walrus man who might know something about a drawing we found in a toy that's been part of a giant's tea party for ten years.  I'm confused, okay?  Can you cut me some slack?”

A smile cracked Gus's face. “Now that you put it that way—maybe just a little.”