The Slide

Chapter 15 — Meltdown, the past, (continued)

Part 2 of a Science Fiction Story

Sophie and Clues

When they returned to the main house and left alone in Farha’s room in the northwest wing, the only occupied room surrounded by nine empty rooms. It was a relief for Farha, but Sophie was crying. Farha approached, Sophie waved her off. Her cries became deeper and with clenched fists, Sophie began hitting her head and wailing out,

“My fault, my fault, my fault…”

For the first time in her life, Farha did not know what to do. She wanted to help.

“Let me hold you,” Farha offered.

“No,” she shrieked. “Get away from me. I’m no good.”

Farha moved to embrace her and was elbowed in the neck.

“You! You! You need to stay away from me.”

“I love you, Sophie.”

She crumpled to her knees, sobbing, exhausted. Farha brought pillows and blankets from the bed and sat nearby. After a time of rebuffing Farha, she collapsed into her arms. Together, in a sweet embrace, they fell to sleep.

Commandant Marie Bisset rose off the cot where she had napped and returned to the keyboard. She had already written summaries of the reports of Captain Moreau and the project supervisor — Captain Anton (doctor of research). Anton had been appointed by General Bayard.

Three of her team members had been replaced by Bayard’s people, which was very disturbing. Her plan, once her summaries, observations and reports had been printed, was two-fold. She planned to drive to Paris once her car was fully charged and store her summaries and reports at her command post. Then she would meet with Bayard and find out what his motives were. If her questions were not seriously addressed by General Bayard, then it would be time to speak with his superior.

She suspected that the right hand did not know what the left hand was doing. If this was so, as she inferred and Bayard dismissed her, further action would be necessary.

After Sophie and Farha made love in the early morning hours, Sophie revealed to her what she had been thinking.

“I’ve been spying on you,” she confessed.

“What do you mean?”

“While you have been asleep I was trained to spy and take notes on what you said in your sleep, make notes of breathing patterns, gestures, noises and record them on a small e-pad I kept in a secret pack on my belly.”

“Oh that. That’s what all the PTs have been doing. I am well aware of it. The memory people are gathering data. They do not plan to tell me. It is supposedly to gain insight into how to help me recall what I cannot remember. It is of no importance to me. You were doing your job, and it does not affect my feelings towards you.”

“There’s more…”

Farha flexed an eyebrow in mild surprise.

“I feel like I’m being watched almost all the time and while they are watching me, they are watching you too.” Sophie hung her head in shame.

Farha paused, searching for words:

“I know you are highly sensitive, and I don’t doubt your intuition. Have you ruled out any fears that might be making you overly cautious?” Farha gently queried.

“You don’t believe me,” Sophie said dejectedly.

“That’s not what I said. Your intuition is almost always on the mark. The scientist in me is looking for something your keen observational skills may have picked up on to reinforce your intuition so we can take action. This is partly a military operation and they cannot be trusted,” Farha said forcefully.

But it was too late. Sophie had shut-down. She couldn’t hear it and left the room without saying a word.

Half-way to Paris, Marie Bisset’s E-Car began malfunctioning. As the fates would have it, she pulled off the main roads to a town where a cousin was a mechanic. He found the bug that was interfering with the charge delivery system. He disabled it and made it look like an internal mechanical failure of the bug. The bug was part mechanical, part organic, like an insect.

Sophie kept Farha at arm’s length for three days. During their brief interactions as her PT, she kept everything professional and perfunctory despite Farha’s pleas.

Farha canceled her appointments at the Memory Clinic and sequestered herself in her room. She refused to answer her door and became sullen.

Sophie’s Insights

Late in the day, Aunt Mila announced herself and said, “There’s someone here to see you.”

There was no answer. Aunt Mila knocked forcefully.

“Sophie is here for you,” Aunt Mila said loudly.

The door opened a crack. Sophie looked upon Farha’s tear-soaked eyes, red and swollen.

“Will you forgive me?” she asked of Farha and was let in.

“Yes, my love,” Farha said.

They embraced and kissed passionately.

“May I explain?” Sophie asked.

Farha nodded affirmatively. They sat on the bed and Sophie explained her process. Upsets had always taken days to “calm down from and sort out”. “And regarding my observational skills, I noticed a few things.”

“I noticed a change in my body after Ralf, my friend, was discharged from the program, when the need for PTs decreased. Ralf, I think, was suspicious of the of different military people in the memory group and as supervisors. Captain Anton seemed different, though it’s so vague. I don’t know how or what happened to him.

“It was after the last immune-booster shot that my body started reacting to it. It was like — the formula had been changed or something. Everyone else seemed okay but me. And Ralf, but he was gone so I couldn’t talk with him about it.

“I forgot about it until we became more deeply involved, until you asked about my observations,” Sophie concluded.

They hugged and kissed again.

“I have an idea that we can bring to the leadership so we can get what we want and they can get what they want. We can put them to the test. What do you think?” Farha asked.

Sophie nodded vigorously and smiled.

Thank you for reading, your support and your comments.

At the end of Chapter 14 there is an index of all chapters in Parts 1 & 2

The Slide: Chapter 16 | Paris and More Secrets, the past — (continued)

Rebecca Romanelli | Spyder | DL Nemeril | Elle Beau ❇︎ | Dr Mehmet Yildiz | Melanie J. | Joseph Lieungh | Filiz Özer | madmess’s thoughts | David Price | Camille Grady | Alberto García 🚀🚀🚀 | Alison Hollingsead | Norman Chen | Ravyne Hawke | Marcus aka Gregory Maidman | I. Trudie Palmer | Mark Tulin | Regina Clarke | George Blue Kelly | May More | Blaine Coleman | Orla K. | Winston | Diana C. | Lee David Tyrrell | LM | Margie Willis | Nombuso Makhubu | Noorain Ali | Dr. Preeti Singh | Libby Shively McAvoy |