Eureka! - Chapter One
“This is it Karen,” Erica’s voice trembled with suppressed excitement. She passed her fingers over the computer keys, bringing to life the brainchild that she and her partner Karen Delina had worked on for almost a decade. “Project Phoenix is almost ready to go live.”
Karen felt a sneer tug at the corner of her mouth as she stared over Erica’s shoulder, watching as all the precious data went through the final stages of compiling.
“Yes,” She whispered, then, more loudly and with as much encouragement - not entirely fake - as she could muster, “We certainly have done such wonderful work Erica. No doubt these projects will change the face of the medical field forever.”
Erica laughed and saved the last of her files, carefully backing them up on several external hard-drives before clearing any record of her work from the computer’s memory. Always better to be safe, at least until the project was ready to be released.
“Well, I think that should wrap up everything for tonight,” Erica rose from her chair and stretched, working out the kinks in her stiff muscles. “Aren’t you excited about tomorrow? I know the board has been irritated with us for keeping them in the dark about our work for so long, but…”
Erica shrugged and let the thought trail away with a radiant smile on her face. They were about to change the world.
“Of course I’m excited,” Karen laughed and gave her best friend a hug. “All these years of working together, since college… well, finally we’re both about to get what we really deserve.”
Erica blushed and returned the hug with as much strength as she could. “Well, the acclaim and recognition will be really nice, but think of all the lives we could save. I would say that if we manage Project Phoenix right this could very well be the dawn of a new era for all of humanity.” Erica took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment, savoring the amazing moment they were on the cusp of.
Karen’s mask slipped for a moment as she fought with herself for control over her contempt and fury. ‘Hold it in. After all these years, just a few more moments…’
“Sweetie, you look exhausted. Here, go ahead and get ready for bed. I’ll clean up the office here.” Karen gave her ‘best friend’ a dazzling smile and nudged her out the door, checking her impulse to slam it in Erica’s face.
“Thank you so much, Karen,” Erica glanced over her shoulder, a smile on her lips. She stared at her best friend for a moment, compassion and gratitude filling her eyes. “Thank you for everything.”
“Yes,” Karen whispered, closing the laboratory door on Erica’s retreating back. She turned and eyed the pile of hardware sitting on the table in front of her, crystallizing years of dedicated effort - almost entirely on Erica’s part. Not that she would ever realize that - while the little scientist had done all the work, even lonely nerds responded adoringly to a little bit of kindness. Karen smirked as she thought of just how much Erica’s kindness to Karen would truly end up being. She let out a soft, barking laugh as she ran her fingers over the hard-drives - the only place in the world, thanks to her urging, that this data was stored.
“Thank you for everything.”
“We trust,” Muir set his wine glass down without having taken a sip, staring at Karen with hard eyes that sent shivers up Karen’s back. This was a man who had untold numbers of money at his fingertips and knew it. “You will not waste our time.”
“Not at all Mr. Muir,” Karen purred in a silky voice. “I would never dream of doing so.” If only the bastard knew how much she had had to sacrifice just to draw him here, entertained in the best restaurant that the city had to offer, surrounded with the highest luxuries just to ensure he was not offended in the slightest. “I do believe that you will find the research I have to offer you to be, in its own way, quite priceless…”
She had him in the palm of her hand within moments.
“You do realize what this could mean, do you not?” Muir’s eyes glistened as he considered all the possibilities. He picked up his wine glass and took a sip - Karen smirked. She had him landed. “Monumental. Truly monumental. We would have to scale the product down, of course, but if we could make it available to the general public it would be an amazing market it will change the lives of untold millions of people and…”
“I have been thinking,” Karen interrupted gently. “Of quite a different market. Why release to the public at all, Mr. Muir? Think of it… once such research is released to the public sectors it is only a matter of time before it becomes as commonplace as any cheap antibiotic. Such a… potential product, as you put it, would have similar revolutionary effects on humanity, after all. Why not…” Karen drew her finger slowly over her wine glass, smiling to herself as it hummed under her touch. “Perfect the design and release it only to those you find, perhaps, deserving of it. For a different kind of… untold millions.”
The light in Muir’s eyes dimmed as the implications settled in further. He turned his gaze back to Karen - with the hard, cold eyes of a man about to control the fate of humanity at his digression. “I believe, my dear, we will be very happy together.”
“Don’t do this. You’re inaccurate! You’re wrong, why are you lying?” Erica’s voice teetered and fell into hysteria. She stumbled backwards, away from the crushing figure in front of her. “How could you say this? How could you do this?”
“I’m so sorry,” Karen sighed and turned back to the board president, her voice heavy with remorse. “I had no idea… I actually did very little work as a partner, just whatever I could do to help Erica. I never dreamed she was wasting all the grant money you gave her…”
“What are you saying…”? Erica whispered, her gaze never leaving Karen’s face. This couldn’t be happening. Not today - everything, today, was going to be so different…
“Millions of dollars, Erica.” The Board President’s voice cut through the air. “We spent millions, trusting you on this… you’ve broken all our trust in you, let alone your contract…”
The voices were becoming distant. Erica felt faint as she thought of her frantic search through her laboratory, all the data missing, irrelevant masses of bogus theories and broken scientific formulas filling what had only the day before held…
“… we have no choice, you’ve dishonored us all… computers completely empty… no idea what you are babbling about, not a shred of this ‘Project Phoenix’… waste…”
“… so sorry President, assumed… not my fault… guilty…”
“… with me, come on… move it!”
“… legal action…”
Numb. Erica was numb. A life-time worth of work. This work… why…?
“Good-bye, Erica.” Erica felt a jolt as she recognized Karen’s voice. The woman - friend? What had just happened? - leaned in closer, her face a twisted mask of hate. “While you lay in the ashes, others of us will fly further than you could have ever dreamed. Disappear. This world was never what you thought it was.”
The last of the world disappeared from under Erica’s feet. It was impossible now - she would never be able to prove she had been about to change the world. She would never be able to retaliate or rebuild here now. Karen had taken it. Karen had used it, the first human guenia pig, the first test subject on shedding so many of the boundaries of humanity itself. No wonder she had swept Erica aside as though she was no more than a pawn in some game. Erica felt swept aside from the power of the realization -
Karen was the first Phoenix.
There was no point in staying. It was all gone - the work was all she had ever really lived for. No doubt it would be dangerous to stay anyway. Erica closed her eyes and pressed her hands across her face. The world had changed thanks to her work - just not in the way she had ever predicted.
‘Dangerous. It is too dangerous to stay here.’ The boundaries that had defined the world were melted away. This entire city - this whole country, perhaps even the whole world - would lay at Karen’s feet, a board for her to play with.
More than the pain was the budding guilt. With a spirit like that, what could Karen do to the world, now? And whatever happened would be a result of the work that Erica had slaved away at for so many years…
Not that the world wasn’t already without its own dangers. Decade after decade humanity had been slipping into chaos, the rift between the Haves and the Have Nots getting wider and wider, the environment and quality of life disintegrating to practical nonexistence - and the human capacity for caring about it shrinking.
No one was blind to what was really happening. Yet so few seemed to survive past being numbed by the sheer extent of it - and even fewer had the will or energy to even contemplate the deeply tangled knots within the sickness that ate at the world.
Chaos fed on itself - competition was fierce and the fall of the weak was regarded as necessary purges -
- at least to those on top.
A warped, adulterated view that only further exaggerated a culture of indulgence, indifference, and loss - loss of what it really meant to be human, what it mean to be alive.
I can't do this anymore, Erica wrapped her trembling fingers around the bottom of her bus seat to steady herself. The whole world still moved unsteadily around her - the whole world had changed because of what she had wrought and they might never even know until it was too late.
Erica closed her eyes, shame and fear burning at the back of her throat. All she had ever wanted to do was make the world a better place - and instead she may have just written the script for the end of civilization. Nothing was ever going to be the same again, even if it would take years before it became obvious - that is, if anyone would have know the truth of how the world was about to be divided and run. What should have been a Golden Age, a huge leap forward in the evolution of human physiology and culture was now lost, no doubt garnered into whatever hands offered Karen the most. Who knew what damage they would wreck on the world...?
And there is nothing I can do about it...
Karen felt a sneer tug at the corner of her mouth as she stared over Erica’s shoulder, watching as all the precious data went through the final stages of compiling.
“Yes,” She whispered, then, more loudly and with as much encouragement - not entirely fake - as she could muster, “We certainly have done such wonderful work Erica. No doubt these projects will change the face of the medical field forever.”
Erica laughed and saved the last of her files, carefully backing them up on several external hard-drives before clearing any record of her work from the computer’s memory. Always better to be safe, at least until the project was ready to be released.
“Well, I think that should wrap up everything for tonight,” Erica rose from her chair and stretched, working out the kinks in her stiff muscles. “Aren’t you excited about tomorrow? I know the board has been irritated with us for keeping them in the dark about our work for so long, but…”
Erica shrugged and let the thought trail away with a radiant smile on her face. They were about to change the world.
“Of course I’m excited,” Karen laughed and gave her best friend a hug. “All these years of working together, since college… well, finally we’re both about to get what we really deserve.”
Erica blushed and returned the hug with as much strength as she could. “Well, the acclaim and recognition will be really nice, but think of all the lives we could save. I would say that if we manage Project Phoenix right this could very well be the dawn of a new era for all of humanity.” Erica took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment, savoring the amazing moment they were on the cusp of.
Karen’s mask slipped for a moment as she fought with herself for control over her contempt and fury. ‘Hold it in. After all these years, just a few more moments…’
“Sweetie, you look exhausted. Here, go ahead and get ready for bed. I’ll clean up the office here.” Karen gave her ‘best friend’ a dazzling smile and nudged her out the door, checking her impulse to slam it in Erica’s face.
“Thank you so much, Karen,” Erica glanced over her shoulder, a smile on her lips. She stared at her best friend for a moment, compassion and gratitude filling her eyes. “Thank you for everything.”
“Yes,” Karen whispered, closing the laboratory door on Erica’s retreating back. She turned and eyed the pile of hardware sitting on the table in front of her, crystallizing years of dedicated effort - almost entirely on Erica’s part. Not that she would ever realize that - while the little scientist had done all the work, even lonely nerds responded adoringly to a little bit of kindness. Karen smirked as she thought of just how much Erica’s kindness to Karen would truly end up being. She let out a soft, barking laugh as she ran her fingers over the hard-drives - the only place in the world, thanks to her urging, that this data was stored.
“Thank you for everything.”
“We trust,” Muir set his wine glass down without having taken a sip, staring at Karen with hard eyes that sent shivers up Karen’s back. This was a man who had untold numbers of money at his fingertips and knew it. “You will not waste our time.”
“Not at all Mr. Muir,” Karen purred in a silky voice. “I would never dream of doing so.” If only the bastard knew how much she had had to sacrifice just to draw him here, entertained in the best restaurant that the city had to offer, surrounded with the highest luxuries just to ensure he was not offended in the slightest. “I do believe that you will find the research I have to offer you to be, in its own way, quite priceless…”
She had him in the palm of her hand within moments.
“You do realize what this could mean, do you not?” Muir’s eyes glistened as he considered all the possibilities. He picked up his wine glass and took a sip - Karen smirked. She had him landed. “Monumental. Truly monumental. We would have to scale the product down, of course, but if we could make it available to the general public it would be an amazing market it will change the lives of untold millions of people and…”
“I have been thinking,” Karen interrupted gently. “Of quite a different market. Why release to the public at all, Mr. Muir? Think of it… once such research is released to the public sectors it is only a matter of time before it becomes as commonplace as any cheap antibiotic. Such a… potential product, as you put it, would have similar revolutionary effects on humanity, after all. Why not…” Karen drew her finger slowly over her wine glass, smiling to herself as it hummed under her touch. “Perfect the design and release it only to those you find, perhaps, deserving of it. For a different kind of… untold millions.”
The light in Muir’s eyes dimmed as the implications settled in further. He turned his gaze back to Karen - with the hard, cold eyes of a man about to control the fate of humanity at his digression. “I believe, my dear, we will be very happy together.”
“Don’t do this. You’re inaccurate! You’re wrong, why are you lying?” Erica’s voice teetered and fell into hysteria. She stumbled backwards, away from the crushing figure in front of her. “How could you say this? How could you do this?”
“I’m so sorry,” Karen sighed and turned back to the board president, her voice heavy with remorse. “I had no idea… I actually did very little work as a partner, just whatever I could do to help Erica. I never dreamed she was wasting all the grant money you gave her…”
“What are you saying…”? Erica whispered, her gaze never leaving Karen’s face. This couldn’t be happening. Not today - everything, today, was going to be so different…
“Millions of dollars, Erica.” The Board President’s voice cut through the air. “We spent millions, trusting you on this… you’ve broken all our trust in you, let alone your contract…”
The voices were becoming distant. Erica felt faint as she thought of her frantic search through her laboratory, all the data missing, irrelevant masses of bogus theories and broken scientific formulas filling what had only the day before held…
“… we have no choice, you’ve dishonored us all… computers completely empty… no idea what you are babbling about, not a shred of this ‘Project Phoenix’… waste…”
“… so sorry President, assumed… not my fault… guilty…”
“… with me, come on… move it!”
“… legal action…”
Numb. Erica was numb. A life-time worth of work. This work… why…?
“Good-bye, Erica.” Erica felt a jolt as she recognized Karen’s voice. The woman - friend? What had just happened? - leaned in closer, her face a twisted mask of hate. “While you lay in the ashes, others of us will fly further than you could have ever dreamed. Disappear. This world was never what you thought it was.”
The last of the world disappeared from under Erica’s feet. It was impossible now - she would never be able to prove she had been about to change the world. She would never be able to retaliate or rebuild here now. Karen had taken it. Karen had used it, the first human guenia pig, the first test subject on shedding so many of the boundaries of humanity itself. No wonder she had swept Erica aside as though she was no more than a pawn in some game. Erica felt swept aside from the power of the realization -
Karen was the first Phoenix.
There was no point in staying. It was all gone - the work was all she had ever really lived for. No doubt it would be dangerous to stay anyway. Erica closed her eyes and pressed her hands across her face. The world had changed thanks to her work - just not in the way she had ever predicted.
‘Dangerous. It is too dangerous to stay here.’ The boundaries that had defined the world were melted away. This entire city - this whole country, perhaps even the whole world - would lay at Karen’s feet, a board for her to play with.
More than the pain was the budding guilt. With a spirit like that, what could Karen do to the world, now? And whatever happened would be a result of the work that Erica had slaved away at for so many years…
Not that the world wasn’t already without its own dangers. Decade after decade humanity had been slipping into chaos, the rift between the Haves and the Have Nots getting wider and wider, the environment and quality of life disintegrating to practical nonexistence - and the human capacity for caring about it shrinking.
No one was blind to what was really happening. Yet so few seemed to survive past being numbed by the sheer extent of it - and even fewer had the will or energy to even contemplate the deeply tangled knots within the sickness that ate at the world.
Chaos fed on itself - competition was fierce and the fall of the weak was regarded as necessary purges -
- at least to those on top.
A warped, adulterated view that only further exaggerated a culture of indulgence, indifference, and loss - loss of what it really meant to be human, what it mean to be alive.
I can't do this anymore, Erica wrapped her trembling fingers around the bottom of her bus seat to steady herself. The whole world still moved unsteadily around her - the whole world had changed because of what she had wrought and they might never even know until it was too late.
Erica closed her eyes, shame and fear burning at the back of her throat. All she had ever wanted to do was make the world a better place - and instead she may have just written the script for the end of civilization. Nothing was ever going to be the same again, even if it would take years before it became obvious - that is, if anyone would have know the truth of how the world was about to be divided and run. What should have been a Golden Age, a huge leap forward in the evolution of human physiology and culture was now lost, no doubt garnered into whatever hands offered Karen the most. Who knew what damage they would wreck on the world...?
And there is nothing I can do about it...