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Duke Nukem was not a sentimental person by any means. He did not tend to keep mementos or souvenirs. Even in his “prior” life he had not been prone to such behavior, and he certainly did not have much that he cared to remember now. He no longer had any of his diplomas or his yearbooks or copies of any of his numerous research papers that had been accepted into the most prestigious scientific journals. He barely recalled what he had done with them. Most likely he had fried them in some fit of rage after his accident left him shunned by his former colleagues.
There was one thing that had managed to escape his wrath in those terrible first few months following his accident, however. He really had no idea why he had spared it then, and he still wondered why he kept it now. It was a photograph, from a convention he attended many years ago in Las Vegas. The picture was of him and two of his most memorable students.
On his left was Barbara Blight, smiling brightly, both of her blue eyes sparkling. On his right was Dawn Derrick, standing next to him, also smiling quite cheerfully. He was standing there in between the two beautiful women, grinning like an idiot. He was tall and thin and pale, his bright red hair was a little messy and his green eyes were hidden behind dorky thick glasses. It was before his accident.
Before all of their accidents.
He didn’t think about those days much anymore. Back then he had been a physics professor at Berkeley. He was well respected in his field, though quite a few of his colleagues considered him to be a little odd. Despite that minor problem the quality of his research spoke for itself. Regardless of what people thought of his mannerisms, they generally respected his work. On top of that, he was a favorite professor among the students at the university.
It was always a source of pride to Dr. Nukem that students were so eager to enroll in his courses. His classes were always the first to fill up when registration began. Even though he seldom gave anyone an A it did not seem to deter anyone from wanting to attempt to earn one. Students enjoyed his rather outlandish sense of humor and bizarre personality quirks, such as showing up to class in a Hawaiian shirt, board shorts and sandals.
Nukem still remembered the first time he saw Dawn Derrick and Barbara Blight. It was the first day of fall semester, a typical sticky hot late August day in southern California. Dawn and Barbara both sat in the front row, close to his desk. They were the first two students to arrive for class, nearly ten minutes ahead of anyone else.
Barbara did not look like the sort of person one would expect to be a scientific genius. She looked more like a typical California girl with long blonde hair cascading halfway down her back, sun kissed skin and bright blue eyes. She wore cutoff jean shorts and a tight pink tank top that highlighted her perfect hour glass figure.
Dawn on the other hand looked more like what one would expect from a science major. It was not that she wasn’t attractive, she was actually quite a pretty girl, but it was just that her style was a bit more subdued. She had her dark brown hair cut in a short and practical style. She wore glasses and was dressed in jeans and a rather conservative, blandly colored blouse.
Duke Nukem wondered how he still recalled the details of that day so clearly. It was not because he had some sort of perverse attraction to the students who were half his age. He was aware they were attractive. He was a man, after all, so their good looks were not totally lost on him. The last thing his reputation needed, however, was rumors of an affair with a student. He already had a reputation for being a little off kilter as it was.
As he reflected on it now, he realized that he probably remembered it all so clearly because he knew they were both something special. During his years as physics professor he had seen literally thousands of students grace the chairs in his lecture hall. He knew most of them would never become anyone of consequence. Some would drop out, some would become middle school teachers, and the more lucky ones would get decent jobs working for the R&D department of a large corporation. However there were a select few who were destined for greatness, and Professor Nukem had knack for picking those students out from the crowd.
He knew from the moment he met the two of them that they would both be great scientists. The only problem he had with them was that neither of them was a physics major. Barbara’s course of study was biochemistry, and Dawn’s was environmental science. Nukem had spent most of the semester ribbing them for it and trying to convert them to his specialty, to no avail.
Despite their unwillingness to become physicists, Nukem still formed a pretty close bond with the pair. Barbara and Dawn had their own sort of bond, a strange mixture of friendship and rivalry. They clashed quite a bit on their moral and personal beliefs, but they were also a challenge to each other intellectually. Very few other students could compete with them.
After graduation they had kept in touch with him, and he was pleased to see that they both had done well in their respective careers. He had no doubt they both had amazing futures ahead of them. He had no idea at the time of the tragedy that lay ahead for all three of them.
<><><>
Dr. Derrick’s accident was first. It happened when she had been out of grad school for a little less than a year. She was working for the Environmental Protection Agency at their main offices in Washington D.C. The agency had eagerly recruited her while she was finishing her PhD and she had enthusiastically accepted their offer.
She was invited to give a lecture at nearby George Mason University on the topic of the environment and government legislation. It was when she was driving home from this event that she had the accident that would forever change her life. When Nukem asked her about it later she said that she could barely recall anything that happened, which he figured was probably for the best.
A drunk driver plowed straight into her driver’s side door after he ran a red light. Dr. Derrick was transported by helicopter to Washington Hospital, the severity of her injuries necessitating a Level 1 Trauma Center. At first the doctors were unsure whether or not she would even survive the collision, let alone what sort of condition she would be in if she did.
Nukem had been in Washington D.C. on business at the time and had heard about the accident from a mutual colleague. His heart sank when he heard that one of his best students had been critically injured and might not make it. He determined to find the time the visit the hospital and see her, though he was not certain what comfort he would be able to give.
When he arrived at the emergency room he immediately noticed another of his former students. Barbara Blight, now Dr. Blight, was sitting in the waiting room among the various other people Nukem assumed to be Dawn’s friend and family. He was glad to see a familiar face. He worked his way through the small crowd and took a seat next to her.
“Dr. Nukem,” Blight said, attempting to smile. “It’s been a long time.”
“Indeed,” Nukem replied. “Although I wish we were seeing each other again under happier circumstances.”
Blight nodded and leaned back in her chair, looking tired and pale. “Did you come all the way from California to see her?”
“Not exactly. I was in D.C. presenting some information on behalf of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.”
“I see. I happened to be at Langley in Virginia Beach when I heard what had happened. She was one of the few classmates of mine that I actually liked. I figured I should come show my support or something. It’s a little bit of a drive, but it’s doable.” Blight yawned and stretched her arms over her head. “It’s been a long day.”
“I’m sure. Have you gotten a chance to visit with her?” Nukem asked.
“Just for a few minutes. She’s still pretty out of it. They’re pumping a lot of meds into her at the moment,” Blight replied.
“Is there any word on her… long term prognosis?” he asked cautiously, not entirely wanting to hear the answer.
Blight swallowed hard. “Yeah. They say she is paralyzed from the waist down.”
Nukem sighed miserably. It was difficult seeing one of his brightest students receive such a devastating injury. She had so much potential; it would be a shame to see it wasted. Hopefully the accident had not caused any sort of problem that would interfere with her brilliant mind.
“Do you know what the worst part is?” Blight said softly, interrupting Nukem’s thoughts.
He looked at her and raised an eyebrow curiously. “What’s that?”
“The drunken idiot that hit her just walked away. He wasn’t even admitted. He ended up with nothing more than a few scrapes and bruises.” The bitterness in her voice hit him like a punch to the gut.
“Wow,” was all he could manage to utter. He had never been under the illusion that life was fair, but the injustice of this situation was staggering.
“Yeah. Wow…” Blight scowled. “What’s she supposed to do now?”
“I have no idea. Somehow try to pick up the pieces and move on with her life, I suppose.” Nukem shrugged, knowing it wasn’t a very good answer.
“But how? Would she have to forgive him first? The man who hit her, I mean.”
“I suppose so. Eventually.” Another weak answer, Nukem thought. There were really no good answers when it came to a situation like this.
“Could you do it? Forgive someone who hurt you like that? Who ruined your life?” There was something fierce in Blight’s voice, a tone Nukem had never heard her use before.
He was slightly taken aback. “I don’t know,” he admitted finally. “I’m not sure that I could. It would be difficult, that’s for sure.”
“I wouldn’t do it,” Blight said unapologetically. “Some people don’t deserve forgiveness. This bastard certainly doesn’t.”
There was that coldness in her voice again. Nukem wondered why he had never noticed it before. Perhaps something had changed since she was an enthusiastic undergrad, looking to make a name for herself. Nukem wondered if something in her new bioweapons research career had already disillusioned her.
“She’ll forgive him though,” Nukem said after a moment’s silence.
Blight nodded. “She will. I just don’t get it. I must not be as good of a person as she is.”
“Well perhaps I’m not either,” Nukem said.
They were silent after that.
<><><>
Nukem never did figure out how Dr. Derrick managed to forgive the man who confined her to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. He could not grasp how she could remain so positive, so convinced that she could help make the world a better place.
He barely could wrap his mind around it then, but after his own accident it made absolutely no sense to him. The only semi-logical reason he could devise was that perhaps Dr. Derrick was still at least somewhat accepted by society, despite her obvious handicap, and that gave her some reason to want to try to be a good person. He, on the other hand, was left a mutant and freak with no chance of ever being accepted by anyone.
It was several months after Dr. Derrick’s accident that Nukem’s world was forever changed by his own accident. He was still unsure to this day what exactly happened. He was always meticulously careful in his lab, considering the highly volatile nature of the radioactive substances he handled. He supposed it could have been a mistake by one of the post-docs that were working with him at the time. He would never know though, considering the fact that most of the lab and the other people who were in there with him at the time were destroyed in the blast.
He did not remember much about the accident, considering that it had all happened rather quickly. He vaguely recalled hearing one of the grad students yelling about a dangerous level of something and then there was a large explosion. When the dust settled it did not take Nukem long to realize that all of the other people who had been with him were dead. He was horrified by the sight of such destruction, as well as highly confused as to how he had actually managed to escape death.
Nukem’s initial relief over his miraculous survival just as quickly turned to fear. Within the first few minutes he noticed a strange yellow tint appearing on his skin and he felt disturbingly warm. It was like a fever, only much stronger than any fever he had ever experienced before. He assumed this was all symptoms of radiation poisoning, and figured that he would probably be dead in short time.
When the clean-up crew arrived Nukem was still there in the remains of his lab, sorting the rubble in an attempt at piecing together what had happened. His body was changing rapidly, his skin becoming even more yellow as well getting thicker and tougher. The medics who arrived had insisted that he placed in containment, to prevent him from contaminating anyone else with the radiation he had been exposed to.
Nukem had meekly agreed with them at the time, still shell-shocked from the horrific experience. However after weeks had passed and he was still alive he demanded to be released. By that point his body had completely mutated into what it was now. The government was scared of him. They considered him a security threat and had absolutely no intention of releasing him. Besides that, Nukem was certain that they wanted to experiment on him and he was not about to allow that to happen.
It did not take him long to realize the strength he now possessed. A few quick blasts and he was free of the place where he was being held. There was nothing any of the pathetic security guards there could do to stop him.
Of course once he was free he was hit with the problem of having nowhere to go. It was not as if he could exactly blend in to normal society.
He called his family first but they had been told he was dead, his body too contaminated with radiation for proper burial. Clearly the government had entertained no idea setting him free. The thought made Nukem angry. His family should have been told that he was still alive, not made to suffer.
Nukem decided to visit his family to prove to them that he was still in fact very much alive, just mutated and different. His parents reacted in horror. At first they did not believe it was him, and even after he had convinced them of who he was they were reluctant to accept him. Nukem knew it was a lost cause. The only way he would ever be a part of his family now would be if he could somehow become “human” again.
That thought lead him to start calling his colleagues. Perhaps one of them would have knowledge of how to fix whatever it was that had happened to him. However the authorities must have anticipated that move as well, as someone had already contacted most of his fellow researchers to inform them that Duke Nukem was dead and that if anyone called claiming to be him that it was a hoax. Nukem remembered frying quite a bit of stuff at that point in an attempt to release the rage that was building inside of him.
He decided that it was best to get out of sight for a while. He wondered if he should bother bringing along any of his possessions. A quick glance through what was left of his belongings made him realize that there was nothing that would be of any use to him at this point. He was about to walk away from his home forever when he noticed the photograph.
He picked it up and stared at it blankly for a moment. Dawn was paralyzed now because of her accident and he was a mutant freak. Barbara at least was doing well, or she had been the last time he had communicated with her. He thought for a moment. Perhaps she would believe him.
He figured it was worth a shot. He dialed her number with no consideration as to what time of day it was wherever she happened to be. After nearly a minute Blight finally answered. “Who is this?” she demanded. “Do you have any idea what time it is? This better be damn important.”
Nukem snickered at the irritation in her voice. “It’s me, Doc. Duke Nukem.”
“What the hell? Nukem is dead, you jerk.”
“I’m most certainly not dead,” he retorted, realizing that was not a very convincing argument, especially since the accident had drastically changed the sound of his voice.
“I’m hanging up now,” Blight said firmly.
“Barbara, don’t!” Nukem called out emphatically. “Please, just hear me out on this.”
There was silence on the other side of the line for a moment. “What do you want?” Blight asked finally.
Nukem breathed a sigh of relief. “I did not die in the explosion in my lab. It changed me, mutated me somehow. The government wanted everyone to believe I was dead so they could keep me locked up in a lab somewhere and prod at me.”
“The government? Lie about something?” Blight said, the sarcasm evident in her tone.
Nukem chuckled. “You would know about that, huh?”
“I guess so,” she replied. “Now quit messing around and tell me who you really are.”
Nukem wanted to scream in frustration. Instead he tried to think of some way to convince her that he was who he said he was. “The last time I saw you was at the emergency room in Washington Hospital in D.C. after Dawn’s accident. You told me that you had driven up from Langley to see her. Remember?”
“Yes… I remember…” Blight said slowly.
“Remember the conference the three of us attended. You, me and Dawn. It was in Vegas. We had so much fun. I lost a hundred bucks playing Blackjack and you ribbed me about it for the rest of the week.”
Blight laughed. “Yeah I remember. Tell me something else and maybe I’ll start to believe you.”
Nukem grinned. “You got pretty tipsy one night at the hotel bar and tried to come back to my room with me.”
“Liar!” Blight exclaimed. “I was drunk, I thought I was going to my room!”
“Right,” Nukem teased. “But my version of the story was so much more fun to tell around the lab.”
Even though he couldn’t see her, he could clearly imagine her glaring at him. “It really is you, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Nukem said, relieved that someone finally believed him.
“What is it you want from me?”
“Help. Maybe you can figure out how to reverse whatever it is that happened to me. Then I can be a normal human being again, and the government won’t want to keep me as their guinea pig.”
“Well I have no idea what’s even happened to you,” Blight said sleepily. “I mean, I’m willing to try, but I’m not promising anything.”
“That’s all I’m asking for,” Nukem replied.
He never did go to see her for help though. After he thought about it, he realized he would be putting her in serious danger by trying to contact her. Not only would the government be suspicious of why she was helping him, but he also realized the radiation he was emitting from his body could make her very sick or even kill her.
He was glad that she had been willing to help, however. He determined that if there was ever anything he could do to repay her for her consideration that he would do it.
As time went by he came to accept his mutation, and eventually to embrace it. He figured that perhaps he was a new breed of creatures, stronger and more powerful than ordinary human beings. Perhaps what had happened in his lab that do was no accident at all. He began to envision a world full of creatures like himself, a radioactive paradise where he was no longer the freak.
He really had no use for humanity now. Other than a select few people the rest of the world could vanish and it would not bother him in the least.
<><><>
It was nearly a year later that Dr. Blight was in the accident that left the horrible scar etched onto her face as a permanent reminder of her pain and suffering. Nukem had only managed to glean the vaguest details of what had happened to her, but from what he gathered it had been terrible. Aside from the scar, it had left her mentally and emotionally unstable. Nukem had never been sure whether the accident somehow left her with a head injury that caused such problems or if Blight’s mental issues were a result of the subsequent rejection by her friends and family.
In the end he didn’t really care what caused it. He figured even if he could figure it out, it was not as if there was something he could do to help her. Nukem had enough problems of his own to deal with anyway. Besides that, he rather liked the crazy side of Blight. She was reckless and impulsive and willing to help him with his schemes.
It was several months after the accident before Nukem managed to get ahold of Blight. He left her a message to meet him at a park near her apartment late at night. He had no reason to see her other than curiosity. He wondered if her experience had changed her as much as his accident had changed him. He also remembered how she had been willing to help when everyone else had denied him, and he figured perhaps he should let her know of his willingness to help her if there was anything he could do.
When Nukem made it to the park there was a layer of freshly fallen snow on the ground, and a light snow still falling. The wind was frigid. Yet the coldness did not affect him at all. He was dressed in just a Hawaiian shirt and shorts but he was still warm. The constant radioactive fusion occurring in his mutated body created plenty of heat to shield him from the winter weather.
Blight arrived in a thick fur coat and gloves, though her arms were wrapped around her as if that were still not enough. She had her bangs brushed over the left side of her face, which Nukem assumed was an attempt to cover the injuries she sustained from the accident in her lab.
“Don’t get too close,” Nukem called out as she approached. She stopped nearly fifteen feet away and looked at him curiously. “I am still not sure how much radiation I am emitting. Or how to control it,” he explained. He didn’t give a damn what would happen if most people got too close to him, but Blight was one of the few people he could still consider to be a friend in some vague sense of the word. At the very least she was willing to help him, so he figured that was a good reason not to fry her.
“I see,” Blight answered simply. “It must be difficult for you, not being able to be near people.”
Nukem scoffed. “Whatever. I don’t need anyone.”
“Then why the hell did you invite me here? It’s freezing.” Blight sounded annoyed and Nukem noticed her trying to pull her jacket tighter around herself as she spoke.
Nukem grinned a little. “Well I wasn’t trying to ask you out on a date or anything. I just wondered how you were doing since your accident.”
Blight winced a little when Nukem mentioned her accident. “How do you think I’m doing?” she asked, not bothering to hide the bitterness in her voice.
“Not too well, from what I’ve heard. But hey, at least you didn’t end up as bad off as me!”
Blight shook her head and looked down at the ground. “I lost everything. My career, the respect of my colleauges, my face… well, half of it anyway…”
“Is it really that bad? You look fine to me.” Nukem tried to sound comforting, but his gravelly voice was not well suited for that.
“You mean half of me looks fine,” Blight corrected.
Nukem shrugged. “Yeah. Well let’s see the other side then.”
Blight’s one visible eye grew wide before her expression quickly changed to a scowl. “No!” she answered emphatically. “Why would you want to see that? It’s disgusting!”
“Oh come on, let me see it! You can’t possibly look any more disgusting than me!” He grinned and spread his arms out wide, as if he were showing off for her.
Blight was hesitant for a moment, but then she pushed her hair back, tucking it behind her ear. Nukem did not show any emotion as she revealed the injury that she had received. It was worse than he had expected, covering most of the left half of her face and discoloring her eye. He was silent, not really certain what he could say to her that would make her feel any better about it.
“There? Happy now?” Blight asked after a moment. She hastily pushed her bangs back over the left side of her face, though it didn’t completely hide the scar.
“You can fix it,” Nukem said simply.
“Fix it?” Blight asked, folding her arms defensively across her chest.
“Plastic surgery,” Nukem replied. “There’s nothing I can do to be normal again, but you can take care of it with a few trips to the doctor... and a nice chunk of change.”
“Normal.” Blight scoffed. “What is normal? I don’t think I’ve ever been normal.”
Nukem threw back his head and laughed. He was still not used to the way his laugh sounded now. It sounded both insane and menacing. He liked it.
Blight shook her head. “You’re not helping.”
“There’s not much I can do to help, Doc. That’s about all I got for ya. You can take it or leave it. Hell, I don’t care what you do to be honest. It’s your life.”
Blight grinned at him, the first time he had seen her smile that evening. “It is my life. I think I’ll just keep the scar, I don’t really give a damn what people think.”
“You never have,” Nukem said. He smiled at her. “You helped me when no one else would. I just thought I’d offer you the same. I don’t know what I could possibly do, but if you ever think of anything…”
“I’ll find you,” Blight said quickly. “But for now… if you really have no idea how much radiation you’re emitting, I think it’s best if I go. I have enough other problems to worry about right now.”
Nukem didn’t answer, he knew she was right. He simply walked off into the night, leaving his former student standing alone in the snowy park. He knew she was smart enough and resilient enough to find her way in life. He also knew that he would see her again. There was some connection between them, two weapons researchers injured in horrific accidents and shunned by their family and colleagues.
He also knew he would probably not see Dr. Derrick again. She had managed to form a respectable career, despite her unforeseen disability. Part of him envied her, but part of him was glad he had no such option available to him. Since he had no chance to return to “normal” society then he did not have to feel guilty for rejecting it.
Nukem was starting to feel hungry, whatever that meant in his current condition. He knew there was a nuclear power station not too far away. If he were lucky, perhaps he could arrange a little accident. The radiation release would probably be enough to quell the strange craving he now felt. He grinned and continued walking toward the plant. Yes, a little accident was exactly what he needed.