8I9Q5 Part 5

Bennett gripped his shiny chrome computer with both hands, panic rising in his usually calm, icy blue eyes. "This can't be happening!" he moaned. "The computer . . . it must be broken. Yes, that's it."

Frantically, he typed in commands into the dull green screen, the white text glowing. His fingers barely had to brush the keys for the letters to appear, but for once he didn't marvel at the technological achievements he and his lab team had come up with.

The energy source that the computer drew from - and that also served as a regulatory device - revealed that there were, in fact, no problems with the computer. Bennett took in a shaky breath, before returning to the previous page and once more studying Adi's brain map, in hope that he had simply made an error.

But of course, he hadn't. Brain-enhanced men did not make errors, though when he was a young, foolish, altruistic boy he had made plenty; however, now was not the time to dwell on this.

Focusing his frustration and anger onto Ricks, he created a virtual bridge to the other man's computer. Almost immediately, Ricks' face popped onto the screen, looking bemused. "What's wrong?"

"You said Adi was completely controlled!" Bennett shouted, spittle flying from his lips. "You fool!"

Ricks looked taken aback. "What . . . I'm not sure what you mean, Dr. Bennett. Of course Adi is completely controlled. He hasn't . . ." He glanced at the floor, before returning his now unsteady gaze to the screen. "He hasn't escaped, has he?"

"Why do you think I'm contacting you? He has, he has, he has!" Bennett slammed his fist against the desk, shaking the computer. "Fool! Now the creature is out there, a thinking, dangerous killing machine! Who knows how many people it has already slaughtered?"

"I don't understand . . ."

"What don't you understand?" he roared. "Adi has escaped!"

"But how?"

"Because, you blasted fool, you messed up! Do you realize the consequences of this? Or is your brain as screwed as it appears?"

Ricks bit his lip. "He's much smarter than I thought. I think . . . Dr. Bennett, I think he's smarter than us."

***

"So the energy tablets - they make us stupid?" Jaron stared at her, astonished. "All this time, they've been controlling us?"

Lainey nodded grimly. "And we think we have microchips in our brains, too, to regulate the chemicals. That's how . . . that's how we lost Dyan."

Burning tears dripped out of his eyes, and he angrily swiped them away. "Why? How?"

She took a deep, shuddering breath, her own eyes shiny, and explained in a low voice, "She stopped taking the energy tablet, so that she could serve our team better. But when, when the government noticed that the chemicals that well, make people . . . people, where in her brain in larger quantities than most . . ."

"That's when they dispatched the monster for her," he finished quietly. Then, something she said struck him. "Team? You mean, there's more of you?"

"Then Parmelia and I?" Lainey smiled wryly. "A lot more. We form the Resistance. And we want you to join."