I know the feeling.
Nothing's going wrong and everything makes sense. I never was ever going somewhere, and so I never found out why.
Of course, it was boring, being at the house with nothing to do, waiting. Waiting for Marek to show up. Staying inside, because outside was nothing but wasteland and the incessant rain which battered the house, driven by the strong wind.
Jack was nevertheless on the porch standing just outside the front door, where only if you hugged the wall could you be sure to stay dry. He liked feeling the wind blowing into his face, it was somehow free and exhilarating.
He didn't notice anything different until they were within a few hundred metres, how could you see through the dark and the rain? Besides he wasn't really looking. The two figures drew closer, emerging from the gloom to take form as they walked bent forward the hoods of their dark capes drawn up over their heads.
They were expecting Marek, and Jack thought he would be alone, so it was surprising to see two people coming towards the house. He turned back to the front door, opened it just slightly and shouted to Joel.
"Marek's here!"
They were at the steps now and looked up as they approached him, but Jack did not recognise Marek – who were these guys?
Joel opened the front door, the two new arrivals glanced from Jack to Joel and walked inside, nothing was said. Jack followed behind, closing the door and locking out the elements.
As they lowered the hoods of their capes, standing there, dripping water onto the wooden floor, the taller of the two spoke.
"I'm Howard," he offered an outstretched hand. Joel gripped it, followed by Jack.
"This is Emret," Howard nodded to his partner standing beside him. They shook hands.
"Joel... and Jack."
For a moment the four of them just stood there. Joel was wondering who they were and where was Marek, Jack was probably thinking exactly the same. There was an uneasy tension. The last thing Kado had said was that they were looking for him.
"Marek couldn't make it," Howard said by way of explanation.
Joel relented, told them to hang up their wet coats and come through to the lounge, but he was just being polite, he was not relaxed, the tension persisted.
"Sit down," Joel indicated the large sofa.
Howard and Emret sat one at each side of the large sofa. Jack took the armchair next to Joel, who remained standing.
"So what happened to Marek?" Joel asked.
"Ah, we can't tell you that," Howard looked up at him.
"No," Emret added. "We just got a message from him with directions."
"So here we are," Howard interjected as if that was an explanation in itself.
'They're a double act, Laurel and Hardy,' Jack smiled to himself amused, but Joel was suspicious.
"Are you two alone?" Howard asked.
Joel didn't feel comfortable at all and he decided he needed to push for more information. Ignoring the question he replied, "What did Marek say? In the message?"
"Oh nothing much," Howard was looking around the room as he answered.
"Is Professor Madison here?" Emret, his partner, shot the question into the room.
And like a bullet, that name ricocheted around inside Joel's head, throwing him off balance. 'Where had he heard that name before?' Joel was certain he knew that person. Of course, he wasn't here, the house was empty and closed up when they found it. There were only the two of them, before the odd couple showed up.
"Professor?" Joel let the question hang in the air.
"Your uncle," Emret clarified.
Joel noticed the sideways regard Howard gave his partner, a sort of look that hinted he had perhaps said too much. My uncle, Joel was certain he should know this Professor Madison, he was convinced this was true, but it was another hole in his memory. What he wondered though, was how they knew about his uncle? No way did Marek know about Madison, so this was all looking more and more suspect.
Although Clement Madison was occupied 24/7 with whatever it was he was working on at the house, and that it was obvious he was set up there to be isolated and not interrupted, he wasn't going to completely ignore his own sister.
That evening the four of them sat down to eat together around the solid dark wood dining table. The same wood as that of the stairs, the house was full of old-fashioned wooden furniture. Charlie looked across the table at Uncle Madison and Joseph, Joel was on his right and their mother the other side.
"What you doing here uncs?" Charlie asked.
"I could pose the same question," Madison replied glancing over at his sister. "I have a big project I'm working on," he returned his attention to Charlie.
"Oh," was all Charlie replied, looking back down at his plate and sticking his fork into whatever it was that was their dinner.
Joel smiled to himself, thinking how his little brother's mind wondered, quickly losing interest if there was nothing to grab his attention. Clearly, Uncle Madison's big project excited Charlie about as much as the food on his plate.
"What stuff are you working on uncle?" Joel tried to interject a tone of studied interest into his question, which apparently worked.
"The Weatherman Project," his uncle replied. "We are trying very hard to address the problem of continuous rainfall and to see if we cannot stop it and at the same time keep the water suspended in the air."
Joel nodded, doing his best to look interested.
"Of course it is much more complicated. We need the rain to provide power, but if there is ever going to be any sort of return of vegetation to the earth it needs to dry out. That will take a long time, but it needs to happen to address the viruses and the contamination. The great problem is..." He paused as if he were contemplating philosophically some sort universal dilemma. "The great problem is, that when you manipulate something like the weather and rainfall, you never really can take account of all the consequences. There are just too many unknown factors. You solve one problem, but create others."
In a way, Joel wished he never asked. He was only making polite conversation, in an attempt to diffuse the somewhat hostile atmosphere between his mother and his uncle. He wondered if it had always been like that between them, or if it was them showing up at the house.
Charlie was obviously completely bored, he was just playing with his food and fidgeting in his seat. Their mother was not being drawn into any argument with her brother, maybe because their being here was a kind of last resort. The rest of the meal passed in virtual silence.
"We would like to see where Professor Madison was working," Howard looked across at the two of them.
"If that's okay," Emret smiled.
Was it okay? Joel had no idea. He didn't know who these guys were, or what they wanted. They were obviously interested in his uncle. Trying to put the pieces of the two jigsaws together at the same time was causing Joel a lot of stress. These guys, inadvertently or not, had given him some missing information which made sense.
This was why he recognised the house, his bedroom. Of course, he had been here before, and now he knew the house belonged to his uncle, Professor Madison. And Charlie? Was Charlie a relative? His brother? Was that possible?
The more he thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense. And thinking about this provoked more ideas, it was as if memories were being dragged up from the depths, filling the holes in his mind.
He remembered a woman in black, she was sitting opposite them in the waiting room. Where was that? No, he didn't know, that bit escaped his grasp. It was frustrating, but that was nothing new.
Charlie was swinging his legs back and forth under the chair, it was annoying. Did he hit his little brother? Yes, I mean NO, he didn't hit him, no he told him to stop fidgeting, it was irritating. He was his BROTHER!
Howard and Emret were standing, waiting. Joel snapped back to the moment, to reality.
"I'll take you guys to see the control room," he told them. Then added, "But It's dead. I mean, nothing in there is working."
Jack stood up next to him as he turned to lead the two newcomers out of the lounge. They followed him and Jack along the corridor to the back of the house.
Joel stood aside and indicated for Howard and Emret to enter the control room. "I guess we'll leave you to have a look around," he said as a sort of question, wondering if he should stay or not.
"That would be great," Howard replied.
"Yes," Emret added. "We might be some time."
"That's okay, we'll be around, in the lounge or kitchen. Come and find us when you've finished."
Joel left the two of them, turned and walked back down the corridor.
"I don't trust those guys," Jack told him when they were out of earshot.
Joel glanced at him. "Yeah, me neither."
"What we gonna do?" Jack asked as they went back into the lounge.
Joel was thinking on his feet. "My guess is they'll be poking around for some time in there."
"Yeah, I suppose."
"Take the battery pack, it's fully charged. Go back to the car and see if you can get in touch with Kado at the club using the coms system. I'll stay here and just pretend everything's OK."
I don't think anybody has a master plan right from the beginning and can see how everything will work out.
‘Of course, it's me has to do all this stuff, getting soaked, freezing cold it is now.’ Jack was talking to himself as he trudged across the sodden ground in what he hoped was the right direction back to where the car had landed, out of power.
‘What if they notice I'm gone? Will it even work?’ Head bent against the rain that was lashing down. ‘It was never this bad when we left.’ He could feel the damp penetrating his clothes, finding its way right inside. He shivered, the cold barely kept out by the warmth of his body.
It was almost as dark as night. ‘How much further could it be? Was he lost?’
‘Okay... finally!’ He sighed, peering through the gloom he could just make out the shape of the vehicle.
Soon he was right beside it. He lifted open the door, threw his pack inside and climbed in, pulling the door shut behind him. It was like closing out everything, even in the darkness he felt cocooned in relative safety. The noise of the rain was now only a very faint thudding against the plastic shell. Jack grabbed the battery pack and pulled out the lead, he fumbled in the darkness feeling for the socket.
‘That's it.’ He pushed home the connection. ‘Now let's try.’ Nothing happened. ‘Wait,’ he was thinking. ‘There must be a switch.’ He ran his hand over the console. ‘What the fuck!’ He just started hitting every damn button he came across.
Yes. Humming, something was happening.
"Energy levels are critical," a woman's voice said. "Entering power conservation mode." Then nothing. Was the thing working, or had it gone to sleep again.
"Communications!" Jack almost shouted.
He thought he glimpsed a diode blink.
"Voice communication is unavailable. Do you wish to send a message?" The woman was back.
Yes, he wanted to send a message. "Yes," he told her.
She then asked for the address, recorded his voice message and, hopefully, sent it. He was certain about that last part, because she told him, "Confirmation is not possible."
He thought about what to do next, decided there was nothing to be done, other than wait. Wait for a reply. He was soaked to the skin and with no real power in the vehicle, although out of the rain, it wasn't much warmer.
Joel was pacing around the lounge. He was nervous, wondering how long these guys would be occupied, wondering if Jack had made it back to the car and contacted Kado. What happens next, he didn't have any master plan, he hoped Kado would tell them what to do. It was him who had sent them here.
Finally, he stopped pacing and sat in the leather armchair, resting his hands on the large round arms. It reminded him of the old armchair in the basement room at the club, the one with the stuffing coming out.
As he relaxed, his thoughts flowed. Thinking about Charlie, the waiting room, his mother. Yes, he now clearly, well almost clearly, recalled the rush to leave the apartment and getting to the Centre. That he was fairly sure was the last time he saw them. But there was still a gap between that memory and finding himself on the street, meeting Grif, the club.
Oh yes, the club. How, he wondered, had that happened. I mean, he knew how he had ended up there, but all the stuff that happened from then on in. How did he get to be gay? That is a very bizarre question to ask himself, but it concerned him, it doubly concerned him because of the gaps in his memory.
Nobody just becomes gay, do they? You don't flick a switch. So he was always, ah, like that. He must have just forgot. Crazy, really crazy, but gaps in your memory do make for crazy stuff.
All his thinking was interrupted when Howard and Emret appeared at the door.
"Did you find anything interesting?" He figured the reply would be no, even before they answered.
"No." There you go, exactly what he thought. "But there is his office to go through."
"Well yes, okay."
"Where is Jack?" Emret was looking around the room.
"Oh, he's either gone outside or in his room. Why?"
"No reason."
Joel distinctly felt the two of them were checking up on things. They probably accepted his response, after all, where would anybody go, there was nothing outside. The two of them went back out of the lounge. They would now, presumably be occupied in Madison's office, which was fine, it would give Jack time to get back.
"You have... two new messages," the woman's voice informed him.
"Play messages," Jack commanded.
"Message one... received today at twelve, eleven... your coordinates have been recorded and a team has been despatched... please stay with the vehicle until assistance arrives... end of message... message two... received today at twelve, twelve... Joel, Jack, things have not gone to plan, Marek has been detained, expect a visit from X-Corp, I cannot help, for now, suggest you find safety... end of message... there are no new messages."
He was a bit shocked realising those two guys who showed up are from X-Corp and that means trouble. What to do? It was easy for Kado to say find safety, but how? Jack unplugged the lead, raised the door, and stepped out into the rain.
"Marek never sent those two guys," Jack was whispering.
"Yeah, I figured that out," Joel replied.
"You did?"
"You don't need to whisper. They're in the office, they can't hear us"
"I got completely soaked," Jack reverted to speaking normally.
"I guess you would have, you know, what with all the rain and wind."
"Next time you can bloody go yourself. You can be a sarcastic bastard, you know that?"
"Sorry, stress," Joel tried a smile. "Those two have got me on edge."
"What we gonna do?"
"Oh Jeez Jack, you always ask me the same question. What did Kado say? You did speak to him?"
"Well not exactly, but I messaged and he replied."
"So what did he say?"
"Marek got detained, expect a visit from X-Corp, and get somewhere safe."
"Well, bit of a wasted journey really. That is like as useful as nothing."
"Don't blame me," Jack sounded peeved.
"I'm not. Don't be so touchy."
"So?"
"I honestly don't have a fucking clue."
"Now who's being touchy?"
"Listen to this. Music, favourites, play!"
The room was suddenly filled with the words and music from what sounded like a very old song.
I went down Virginia, seeking shelter from the storm.
Caught up in the fable, I watched the tower grow.
Five year plans and new deals, wrapped in golden chains.
And I wonder, still I wonder who'll stop the rain.
Heard the…
"It's a folk song from nearly two hundred years ago. Well, a hundred and eighty to be exact, 1969."
"Uh, so?" Jack stared at him.
"So, nothing. It was on my uncle's favourites."
"Well, your uncle must have liked old folk tunes. And... since when did we get to your uncle.
Who is your uncle?"
"Kinda of appropriate, don't you think?" Joel was tapping his fingers in time with the music."
"Yeah, appropriate, but what about this uncle of yours?"
"Howard told me that this is my uncle's house. Then it kinda came back to me. I remembered coming here with Charlie. Before you ask, he's my little brother. My mom was here with us. Uncle Madison. He was doing research, and that's what Pinky and Perky are looking for."
"Wow! Your memory really came back in a flood."
"Haha! Like it. Rain... flood," Joel was grinning at Jack.
Jack saw the joke, even if the pun was unintentional. They both started laughing.
"Flood," Jack repeated amidst more laughing. " And... I... nearly got drowned."
That cracked them both up.
"No, no, it's hurting," Joel was crying, he was laughing so much.
"Keep the noise down or those two will be back."
"Yeah, yeah... and that'll put a damper on things!"
"Stop, stop, please." Jack was now holding his stomach as he too had tears in his eyes.
They managed a slow recovery and the laughter subsided.
"I needed that," Joel was still smiling.
"Me too. Kinda relieves all the tension and shit."
"Yep."
Jack, as was usual, sprawled out on the sofa. Joel relaxed back into the armchair, and they just listened to the music as the next track played.
I enjoy life when things are happening. I don't care if it's good things or bad things. That means you're alive.
Howard and Emret had searched the control room and had just now finished the office. There was nothing. If Professor Madison and Joseph Hinckley, his assistant, had been working on Project Weatherman here, then they'd cleared up and cleared out. Nothing had been left behind. Howard questioned the wisdom of following the professor's nephew, the kid had suffered some kind of head trauma or something. He didn't think that either of the boys knew anything.
"I think this whole thing is a diversion," Howard confided to Emret.
"Yeah, it certainly looks that way," he gave a final look around the office.
"There's nothing here, and I very much doubt either of those two know anything."
"I think they've been used. Just like you said, to throw us off the trail."
"Well, there's no point wasting more time here. I think we should go, report back, and move on."
"What about them?"
"We report back. That's all."
"Just leave them here then?"
"Yeah, why not?"
It wasn't really a question, more an end to the conversation, and Emret was not about to argue. They walked out of the office, along the corridor, back towards the lounge and entrance hall. Howard did not even bother to check if the boys were there. He picked up his still wet cape from the coat stand in the hall, and pulled it on. Emret did likewise.
"Did you hear that?" Jack looked over at Joel.
"What?" The music was still playing.
"I thought I heard the front door."
"Music... pause!" Jack commanded.
Without waiting he got up and headed for the hall, Joel was right behind him.
"The coats are gone!" Jack moved quickly across the hall to the front door. Slowly he opened it, just a little. They could hear the rain beating down on the roof of the veranda. Joel was peering through the gap over his shoulder.
They both saw the two shadowy figures disappearing into the gloom. They watched them fade into the darkness.
Joel moved back inside, Jack closed the door, shutting out the elements and the sound of the wind and rain.
"They've gone!" Jack proclaimed with a sense of satisfaction.
"Yeah, and it's kicking up a storm. They must have been in a hurry to get back to civilisation." Joel smiled to himself.
"Wonder if they found whatever they were looking for?"
"No way."
"How can you be so sure they never found anything?"
"Coz, they were looking in the wrong place."
"What does that mean?" Jack asked, his curiosity aroused.
"It means... I found something, and it wasn't in the control room or the office. It was right here in the lounge."
They'd made their way back to the lounge. Jack plonked himself down on the sofa. He felt relieved that they'd gone. Joel took the armchair.
"I don't think they were after the file on the Neda Project," Jack told him.
"No, of course not. Watch. Screen... Favourites... Play video!"
A projection screen lowered from the ceiling, the lighting dimmed almost to nothing. The film started.
Professor Madison, Uncle Madison, was sitting behind the desk in his office, facing the camera.
"We have successfully researched back to the beginning of rainfall generation, and followed the process, step by step up to the present day. Joseph is responsible for the discovery of the hitherto unknown formula used by Charles Hatfield, a pioneer in the field.
We have developed the theory of water droplet suspension in the air and have successfully manipulated cloud formation to the point where this can be maintained. Hence, allowing cloud formation that would reach a maximum point of water droplet retention, without allowing that water to fall as rain.
In the process of a number of practical experiments, we have proved that this can work. Furthermore, we have successfully piloted cloud manipulation almost to the point where we are able to dictate where and when the water droplets are released. We still have some way to go to be able to refine this part of the process. However, I am satisfied that we will shortly be able to achieve almost complete control. I would put the figure at 95% accurate rainfall.
It is my conclusion that we should very shortly be able to stop the permanent rainfall and 100% cloud cover. At the same time, we will be able to direct rainfall to designated areas for capture and energy production.
As you will understand, this is a revolutionary process that will change the world we live in. It is a secret to be guarded and made available for the benefit of humankind. There are other persons who seek to benefit from our discovery and use it for profit and or worse, for power and control.
We have been forced to close our operation and relocate. Only one person has the coordinates of our new location. This is of course, to protect the discovery. In order to find us, you need to find Joel Sands. He will give you our new location, and he alone.
The screen went blank. A few seconds later the lights came on and the screen retracted back into the ceiling.
It seemed like they'd been stuck in this house, in the middle of nowhere, forever. Charlie had settled himself in, the two of them spent their time playing 3D VR games in Charlie's bedroom. Joel got bored with the games, the competition was uneven, so he had to make an effort to lose, if not, Charlie would get upset.
Their mother seemed like she was doing nothing, most often reading a book sitting in her favourite comfy chair in the lounge. His uncle and Joseph were always in the control room or office. Time passed, but nothing happened. They had escaped the city to a life in limbo.
Things changed the night they sat down, on one of those rare occasions, for dinner together, all five of them sitting around the table. It was just as they had finished that Joel's uncle announced they were mothballing operations here, closing down the house, and moving.
"In that case," their mother told him, "you better arrange transport to take us back to the city."
He hadn't replied immediately, no doubt thinking about it, but he must have come to the conclusion to send them. He arranged for an apartment rental in Neón de Luces, that was the closest city and it was the place they'd arrived at before coming here.
Joel could tell his mother was not happy, but Uncle Madison left them with no other choice. They would have to make the most of it. Perhaps Neón would not be as polluted as the East coast, who knows.
Mark, Evan, Andre, and Eve were glued to the huge screen watching and listening to the announcement they had been expecting, it was a momentous occasion, one of those historic moments that are set to change the course of history. They were not alone, every team in the X-Corp building had stopped work for the broadcast.
The President was flanked by a general from the army, the Secretary of State, and the speaker of the house. Behind were the project leaders and head of NASA, representatives from most of the nations of the world were there as holograms. This announcement was going out live around the globe.
"... and so we have reached the point and a unanimous decision that the next step in our evolution, the next step for humankind is to voyage to the stars. Too much time has been spent on the idea of sending man into space. The idea that one day we would colonise other planets was a seductive one.
It is still, but Operation ReGen is a revolutionary concept, and it is our destiny. The destiny of everyone, every man, woman, and child. We will continue to live our lives here on Earth, but our heritage will be the new human colonies we establish on other distant planets.
The idea is a simple one. All great inventions are often very simple. We are not sending humans into space. It is evident, with all the space exploration to date, that mankind cannot migrate into space and onto other planets like you would voyage across the planet. Looking at the evolutionary process it is obvious that once humanity emerged from the oceans to live on the land, to return to those oceans is difficult and technologically intensive.
It is possible, we can occupy the oceans just as we can live on Mars, but that is neither the question, nor the solution. Operation ReGen is building three Arcs, three motherships. They will be manned by robots and they will take the seed of humanity to the stars. The journey will be a minimum four hundred years, but may be as long as a thousand years.
The crews of these ships will determine the habitable environment as the first potential earth-like planets are reached. Once found a colony will be established and the seed of humankind will be born on these new planets, raised, and educated.
We are sending our seed to be born and to grow on new worlds, this is our future..."
"We knew it would happen," Andre was smiling at his co-workers.
"Yes, we knew, but it changes things," Eve replied.
Of the four of them, she was the longest-serving X-Corp employee, recruited straight after graduation she had worked on two of the company's major projects.
"How really does it change things?" Mark questioned.
"I would suppose the Weatherman Project and Vortex become less important," Evan chipped in.
He was the newest member of the team and had joined at the early stages of the Vortex work. Evan was also the youngest, but a brilliant engineer.
"We still have a lot of work to do guys. I don't think anything has changed there," Eve told them.
"Yeah," Mark said. "I guess we need to get back to it, and find out what's happening in the search."
"We really do need to find Professor Madison," Andre stated what they all knew.
Finding the professor and getting him onside was crucial, but how that would be possible was difficult to see.
"Don't worry about all that. Howard and Emret are on the case, and from the latest I heard, they found the nephew." Mark was the guy who always seemed to know everything that was going on in X-Corp, maybe he was very alert or just perhaps made a point of finding out. Whatever the case, you could usually rely on him to know what was going on.
"So really it's all good," Andre wasn't actually that convinced.
"It's all good," Eve repeated. Whether or not she believed that, it was her job as team leader to motivate them, failure – as the X-Corp moto stated – was not an option.
Comments always appreciated at William King