Work Text:
04/10/2018
Secrets
Accuracy 100%
The writing was flashing on the screen, first white, then red, on a white background.
Megan put a hand to her face.
There must have been a mistake.
She typed once again the string of code necessary to make the system work, then pressed enter.
A moving sphere warned her that the computer was processing the information, then…
Accuracy 100%
Like before, the writing began to flash on the screen.
At that point Megan could feel her hands shaking.
She saw her reflection, disheveled and tired, on the screen. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down the furious pounding of her heart.
She was tired, too tired, in her stomach there was just a coffee, she hasn’t had a good night sleep since…since when? Probably, she never had.
Accuracy 100%
While flashing, as to warn her, the writing emitter a soft beep, beep, beep.
Look at me Megan! Was screaming that sound I’m the medical discovery of the century! Of the millennium! Maybe the most shocking from the times of the wheel!
Beep, beep, beep.
The women winked her eyes, that had reddened because of the time spent in front of the screen, and she forced herself to ignore that call.
She couldn’t be sure (Accuracy 100%), there might have been an error (Accuracy 100%), sometimes computers too made mistakes (Accuracy 100%).
She took another breath, but the air in that laboratory was vicious, it smelled like bad omens, betrayal, and other things she didn’t want to breathe anymore.
She got up, on legs suddenly unstable because of the tiredness, the dizziness almost forced her to lean on the wall.
Her brain, like her body, was completely human, she couldn’t allow herself to work so much without taking a break. But, after all, wasn’t she working to let all human beings lose their humanity? To let them not feel tired, hungry, sleepy, or the need to wear glasses to work on a computer?
She tried to push away that thought, suddenly it sickened her. It must have been the bad air still fluttering in the room. Yes, it must have been so.
Left behind the computer, the laboratory and the long corridor that lead to the elevator she already started to feel better. That absurd flashing writing on the screen wasn’t so urgent anymore, she didn’t feel the terrible, painful impulse to call her boss.
But the number she wanted to call was maybe the last one she should ever have thought of. Yet, her fingers run on the display and her hand brought the phone to her ear, like anything was wrong.
At the third ring she realized she had made a mistake. A horrible mistake. Didn’t all the gossip magazines, all the specialists, all the friends say the same thing? Never call an ex, most of all when you broke up badly, when you still miss him, when you still love him.
She was about to end the phone call when the harsh, grouchy but familiar (loved) voice replied:
« Hello? »
How strange would it have been to improvise a “Sorry, wrong number” and hang up, knowing that Adam still had her phone number memorized (and not with some affectionate nickname, like “love” or even just “Meg”, but a cold, detached “Megan Reed”)?
« Hi Adam. » her mouth replied for her, that ugly traitor. « Did I woke you up? It must be very late, I lost track of the time in the laboratory. It was a silly thing, I’ll call you again tomorrow. »
She was about to press the button that would have removed her from that crushing situation, when he replied, slowly but alert.
« No, I was half asleep on the sofa, no bother. Why are you calling me, Megan? »
Yeah, why was she calling him?
The elevator brought her to the Sarif Industries’s main floor; the night’s guardian’s head was lolling as he stood before the door, but no one would have reported it; on the screens that during the day livened up the reception, now appeared the digital clock, on and off, it marked 04:05 am.
«Tomorrow. » Megan began, while the lie that the regret was making up for her was taking shape in her mind. «I need you to keep Kubrik, because I need to rest and I can’t take care of him. »
The woman could perfectly imagine the question passing through Adam’s mind in that moment. The same questions typical of a policeman (ex-swat) that had led her to exasperation and that were the reason of infinite arguments.
Why are you calling me at four am to ask me to keep the dog?
Why can’t you leave it to your neighbor as always?
« Alright. » Adam said, maybe a little uncertain, or just confused because he had just been woken up by his ex-girlfriend in the middle of the night. «No problem. I like spending time with Kubrik. »
«Perfect. » she replied, suddenly colder. The success of her lie gave her courage. « Now I gotta go, I need to go back home. Goodnight Adam. »
« Goodnight, Megan. »
As soon as the sound signal warned her about the end of the calling, she quickly dialed another number.
The man at the other end of the line immediately answered, without giving her the time to change idea. It was always like that with David Sarif.
« Doctor Reed, it’s a pleasure to hear you. Are you staying up late in the laboratory? »
« I found a sample that matches perfectly. No rejection syndrome, his genes are perfect. »
Silence. Megan felt her heart skip a beat. She was about to ask the man if he was still there, but she was interrupted.
« This is magnificent. Are you absolutely certain? »
« I repeated the test two times, this doesn’t mean I am absolutely certain, I need to analyze more, but I’m sure enough. »
« Who is it? »
« Adam. » She whispered. A gust of wind dried what was left of the sweat on her face and on her neck, making her shiver. « Adam Jensen. »
« Good god! » David exclaimed, Megan had to move the phone away from her ear to not be stunned by his enthusiasm. By all that meanness. « We will contact him immediately. We have to protect your discovery, and we need to protect our sample. » A vague laughter, and the woman felt her guts gurgle in her stomach.
« Sir, with all the due respect, Adam doesn’t know that we collected his DNA, not even about the researches. At this point I think we should not keep him unaware of the facts. »
« Doctor Reed. » David went on, after what seemed an eternity of fire and flames. « Megan. I appreciate your work and your dedication to our cause, I would have never entrusted you with the project if I wasn’t sure you would have succeeded. You said it yourself, didn’t you? We’re still not absolutely sure. We will conduct more experiments and meanwhile…this will be our little secret. »
« But Adam… »
« Adam will not suffer. When the moment will come, he’s gonna spontaneously offer to bring on the researches. He was a policeman, he knows what it means to serve his country for the greater good.»
She was tired, really tired, the earth was moving under her feet, her head was too light to formulate a coherent thought.
After all, if she really wanted to tell Adam everything, she would have done it, she wouldn’t have called him with such a petty excuse. Her impulsivity made he called him, her common sense made her lie. Deep down she felt exactly like Davis.
« Alright. I’ll keep the secret.»
« Splendid, splendid. Tomorrow we’ll talk about it. Have a half day off, Doctor, in the afternoon we’ll talk about this marvelous discovery. Goodnight!»
« Goodnight, mister Sarif.»
She hung up, and started to walk back home.