“You can’t make me,” said Jon.
“Oh, Jon,” said Shaw. “Of course I can. Why do you think Tommy is down here?”
Jon’s heart went cold.
“Do you think I invited anyone’s family out of the kindness of my heart? They are a resource, just like you are, and I will use that resource if necessary.”
“You bastard—” Jon coiled, ready to charge at Shaw.
“Nuh uh uh,” said Shaw, waggling his metallic finger at Jon. “Don’t make me hurt you.”
“You better hope—”
“Oh, please,” said Shaw. “Stop with your threats. I am out of your purview. If it wasn’t clear before, it should be now. I have a deal for you, Jon.”
Jon stared. He wanted to kill Shaw, to deliver even a fraction of the punishment the chimp had received. But he felt the rifles at his back.
“Hear me out,” said Shaw. “Tommy is a perfect test subject. He’s young, and strong. He’s very healthy, aside from his missing legs. And you are very motivated to see him survive. So I want you to give him his legs back. Very simple. He is a test case. You did it to a chimp, I’m certain you can make it work on Tommy.”
“What if I refuse?” asked Jon.
“Then we’ll take him, and do it anyway, without you,” said Shaw. “Those are your options. Do you trust Dr. Stone to oversee the operation? Because if you do not take part, he almost certainly will be in charge of your son’s life. I think we both know that you’re a more capable scientist than him. Don’t you agree?”
Jon’s heart thumped hard inside his chest. Tears welled in the corners of his eyes.
“Well, Jon, what’s your answer?” asked Shaw. “We don’t have time for deliberation.”
“You know my answer,” said Jon, finally.
“Good,” said Shaw. “I’ll let you break the news to Tommy. You have a week.”
Jon stood up, walking out of Shaw’s office. Shaw spoke to him as he walked away.
“I told you, Jon. Remember, when you first arrived?” asked Shaw. “I told you Tommy will walk out of this lab, on his own two feet. And with your help, he will.”
24
Jon waited until the last possible moment to tell Tommy. He gave him as much peace of mind as he could, but despite that, the week flew by.
Jon stole every moment and spent it with Tommy. He made Tommy’s favorite food for dinner every night, and he played video games with him, even though Jon was terrible. Still, he was strapped for time, and he slept little for that week. When Tommy when to bed, Jon was up again, and back at the lab, crunching all the numbers.
He wasn’t alone. The rest of his team was working, and Shaw didn’t try to sandbag him. He gave him more assistants, replacing those killed by the chimp, and assigning even more to his team. Jon needed all the help he could get, giving Mel free rein to delegate roles. She carried a lot of responsibility, because they only had one shot at this, and her models were going to bear the brunt of the work.
“I want to thank you,” said Jon. “For everything.”
It was late at night, or early in the morning. Jon had lost track of his schedule. He was taking ADHD medicine to focus, stealing a few hours of sleep before getting back to work. He and Mel were the only ones in the lab. It was the night before they would operate on Tommy.
“Jon, you don’t—”
“Yes, I do,” said Jon. “I wouldn’t want anyone else helping me. If we ever get out of here—I owe you a beer.”
“I actually prefer ciders,” said Mel.
“You would,” said Jon.
“Nothing wrong with a good cider,” said Mel. “I’d kill for one right around now.”
“I’m sure Shaw could get you one,” said Jon.
“I’ve only been using the bare essentials,” said Mel. “I want to use his things as little as possible. Does—does Tommy know yet?”
“No,” said Jon. “I don’t know how to tell him. Part of me wants to wait until the last feasible moment. How would you feel? Taken against your will, to be a guinea pig? I could tell him now, but then he gets days of dread before it happens. And there’s no negotiation. If he struggles or resists, they’ll take him anyway. They don’t care. I can’t stop them. They have all the power.”
“I wish I could do something,” said Mel. She looked up to a camera. “You think he’s listening?”
“Oh, probably,” said Jon. “I don’t care anymore.”
“Have you talked to Tabby?” asked Mel.
“Not in days,” said Jon. “She’s under house arrest. Her project is done. I don’t have the keys. I tried to go to her floor, but Nadia didn’t grant me permission.”
“The eye in the sky doesn’t lie,” said Mel, quietly.
“What’s that?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Mel. “A fragment from a song I used to know.”
“How are the models looking?”
“They’re as about as fine-tuned as I can make them,” said Mel. “The jump from chimp to human isn’t as extreme as rat to chimp, but we’re not the same, still. At least Shaw isn’t being so strict about his requirements on this.”
“This is a test case for him. He wants it to succeed, and he doesn’t want to turn into a monster, like the chimp did. I’m sure he’s fine with pumping that into soldiers, but he doesn’t want to mutate. He wants his arm back.”
“It’s made it easier,” said Mel. “But there’s still so many variables. Humans are not chimps.”
“No,” said Jon. He put his head down on the table and closed his eyes. “I need to sleep. I need to be fresh for tomorrow. Is there anything left to do tonight to increase our chances of success?”
“I don’t think so,” said Mel. “If anyone can think of it, they’re smarter than me. I have something else, though.”
“What’s that?”
“I built another formula. A reset formula. A zero formula. If something goes wrong with Tommy tomorrow, like what happened with the chimp—”
“I don’t want to even think about it,” said Jon.
“Well, if it happens, it should reset his biology back to default.”
“Will it work, if it comes to it?”
“It should,” said Mel. “But we won’t know until we use it, for sure. There’s no way to test it.”
“I hope it doesn’t come to it.”
“I hope it doesn’t either.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” said Jon.
“We can do this,” said Mel. “And we will.”
Jon smiled and hugged her and then went back to his home. As he exited the elevator, Nadia’s voice surprised him.
“Sleep well, Doctor. Good luck tomorrow,” she said, and the door closed. Strange.
His home was dark and quiet. Tommy slept in his room. He could wake him now and tell him, but what purpose would that serve? If he must hurt his son, he would make it as painless as he could.
Jon peeked into his room and watched him sleep for a moment, his chest gently rising and falling. He looked to his wheelchair, empty, next to Tommy’s bed. Tomorrow would be the last time he used it, whatever the result.
Jon laid down, and then his alarm was ringing. His body desperately wanted more sleep, but he forced his feet to the floor, and took more pills to wake him up, and to keep him awake. It was six AM, and he would need to wake Tommy.
His stomach ached, and he tried to force himself to go in and wake him up, but he couldn’t, his hand frozen before it opened Tommy’s door. Then the door notification rang, and he realized the guards were already there. He went to the door. Four men, stern faced, waited with assault rifles.