Page 24 of The Key to Fear
“Then what the hell was all of that?”Sparkman’s lab coat billowed around her waist as she stomped to Normandy’s side.“We were supposed to be able to stick her up in theLong-TermCare Unit for the next three years at least!You said nothing would manifest until puberty.”She gripped the edge of the table, her squared jaw flexing up to hergold-fleckedtemples.“That process doesn’t start ineight-year-olds!And did you see her eyes?Purple,Doctor.They werepurple!”The clean white lights overhead seemed to flicker in fear with each of Sparkman’s shouts.
Fear.
It was one of the reasons Normandy had chosen the young Key Corp Lieutenant Commander.Sparkman could accomplish anything regardless of whether or not she possessed proper paperwork.And since Normandy had spent the last two decades on a task that those in charge preferred to leave untraceable, there often were no forms at all.That’s when Sparkman’s...talentscame into play.She was a soldier, an enforcer, and no matter how many lab coats she donned, she would be nothingmore.
Normandy removed his glasses, wiped them with the corner of his pristine lab coat, and slipped them back on.“We’re dealing with something new, undiscovered, undocumented.I can tell you what I have calculated, but what we hope to achieve has never been attempted before much less seen to fruition, and our previousninety-onepatients were, as you know, failures.I shall explore the missteps in my calculations.You be grateful thatNinety-Twois still alive.Still human.”
“Wait one second.”Sparkman waggled her finger ferociously.“You’re not holding me responsible for all of the other times you’ve fucked this up.”Her long braid whipped the air as she shook her head.“I wasn’t even here for most of them.”
Normandy frowned at the smudged fingerprints Sparkman left behind on the photos.“You are here now.You are a witness and a participant in all of this.”
When Normandy created his own version of Sparkman, abetterversion of Sparkman, he would remove this penchant for outbursts.Normandy didn’t value Sparkman’s intelligence.He valued her discretion and her effectiveness in getting him what he needed.
His gaze fell to Sparkman’sbattle-wornhands as they again touched thefingerprint-cloudedphotographs.He would also minimize the oil output of Sparkman’s skin by twenty percent.
A trench carved itself into the middle of Sparkman’s otherwise smooth forehead.“But it’s different now.What the hell are we dealing with?”Her golden-red brows arched.“All I know is that the patient burned through propofol so quickly that the entire tube was drained within an hour.Ninety-Twometabolized meds that were supposed to last an entire day in afuckinghour.”
Normandy resumed squinting at the screen.“There’s no reason to be crude.I will review her tests.The answer is in there.”
“Look, old man, I don’t think you understand.If you did, you’d be as alarmed asI am.”
Normandy took a breath and peered at Sparkman over the rim of his glasses.“What was to happen in three years took only three weeks.Thus far,Ninety-Twohas been a triumph.”
Sparkman’s eyes hardened, and she brushed her hand across her smooth, freckled cheek, but said nothing.
“If you’re no longer comfortable with what we’re accomplishing, I can have you sent to Rehabilitation.”The corner of Normandy’s lips twitched with a grin.BeforeNinety-Two, Rehabilitation had been his best creation.
“Fuck you,” Sparkmanspat.
Normandy pressed his hand against his stomach.“Your cursing, Lieutenant Commander.Your cursing.I cannot abide the foulness of your tongue.Perhaps that is something they can address during your Rehabilitationstay.”
Silence burned through the lab.
Sparkman’s broad shoulders slumped.“Everything’s fine,” she conceded.“The changes,” she waved at the displayed reports, “they happened a lot faster than I was expecting, or even prepared for, but,” she cleared her throat, “it’sfine.”
The threat of Rehabilitation guaranteed that Sparkman would never truly step out of bounds.That is, after all, why the Key had commissioned the program.
“I do have one question, though.”Sparkman tugged on the stiff collar of her costume labcoat.
Normandy resumed tracing the edge of one of the photos.“You will not learn if you neverask.”
Sparkman nodded toward the holoscreen andNinety-Two’s resting frame.“If she’s transformed this much in so little time, what will she be three weeks fromnow?”
Normandy considered this as he again removed his glasses, folding them gently before hooking them onto the breast pocket of his coat.“More, Lieutenant Commander.PatientNinety-Twowill be more.”The shrill, prolonged beep ofNinety-Two’s pulse monitor grabbed Normandy’s attention.
“Dammit, Normandy, she’s flatlining!”Sparkman charged toward the door separating them fromNinety-Two—protecting themfromNinety-Two.
“Sparkman!”The soldier halted just short of the doorway as Normandy lifted his glasses from his pocket.“Wait.”
Sparkman’s fists clenched and unclenched by her sides.“She’s dying!”
With one fluid motion, Normandy slid his finger down the volume control toggle, silencing the piercing electronic screech before motioning to the patient’s brain wave monitor.The lines were flat.“She’s braindead.Of absolutely no use to us.”
“Let me get the bot.”Sparkman moved her wrist toward the cuff scanner.“We can try to saveher.”
“The corporation does not need a strain that terminates its host.”Normandy’s fingers curled tightly around his glasses.The frames bit into the soft flesh of his palms.“She is not worth saving.”
“But—”
