Theme-Thology: Invasion Read online

  Rachel laughs. “Great job, Mona.” She nods to the woman. “That’s an impressive pick-up line.”

  The woman shrugs. “It was Mona’s idea. She did it for free, that way I don’t have to keep asking people for their IDs.”

  “She’s the bartender,” Mona says.

  “Ah, now I see.” Rachel nods. “All the staff at the Big Blue Eel wear blue wigs.” She leans in and tucks a lock of Mona’s hair behind her ear. “Since when are you a conformist?”

  “My hair is dyed aqua, and I am an independent contractor,” Mona rolls her eyes. “And the regular staff at the Big Blue Eel wear blue wigs.”

  Rachel giggles. “Of course.”

  The painted bartender thanks Mona and steps back behind the bar.

  “You said something about a full report,” Rachel says, squeezing Mona’s arm. “So what do you think of Nano-Infix? Revolutionary, isn’t it?”

  Mona frowns. “That’s not the first word that pops into my mind. More like ‘untested.’ Rachel, this Nano-Infix hasn’t been tested, has it?”

  “It’s been tested. Terrill tested it on me. And it’s safe. It works.”

  “But it’s an injection of nanobots! How the hell can Terrill give away free nanobot injections to anybody who wants them? Isn’t there some kind of FDA approval he has to get first?”

  “I think his institute has the financial and legal backing of several higher-ups in the FDA – elderly financiers with chronic health problems. Terrill promised them each a shot of Nano-Infix ASAP if they would fast-track the approval.

  “Fast-track?” Mona snorts. “Looks like they circumvented it.”

  “Well, timeliness was an issue.” Rachel studies the mirrored ceiling. “One of the higher-ups has chronic pneumonia, I think.”

  Mona shakes her head.

  “Remember our deal? Blue hair on you gets body paint on me.” Rachel pulls off her shirt and bra.

  “So what’s your pick-up line?” Mona says, grabbing her palette.

  Rachel grins. “Looking for an eel, any size, any color.”

  Mona stifles a laugh and starts painting. Ten minutes later, they admire her handiwork in the bar back mirror. Rachel downs a vodka shot.

  Mona wipes the paint residue off her palette. “That does it for me, Ms. Infix-me-up-with-an-eel. I’m exhausted. I’m going home.”

  “You should get your own infix so you can party all night like me.” Rachel smirks and downs another shot.

  Mona takes Rachel’s hands. “This isn’t like you. But if you want to stay out all night and have a good time, nobody’s stopping you. But please say you’ll be careful tonight.”

  “I’ll be careful tonight.” Rachel winks.

  “Okay. Call me if you need me.” Mona walks backwards out the door, waving good-bye.

  Rachel downs another shot, and juts her painted chest out in the mirror. A shirtless guy with “Big Blue Eel” painted on his chest sits next to her at the bar. Ten minutes later, they’re in Rachel’s hotel room. They both step into the shower and wash each others’ chests.

  “Aw, your big blue eel slithered down the drain,” Rachel says, trailing her fingers down his stomach.

  “Look again,” the guy says, grabbing her hips.

  5

  “Mona, it’s Rachel.”

  “Hey Rach! So did ya find your eel last night?”

  “What?” Rachel clutches her robe around her waist.

  “At the Big Blue Eel, remember? Your body paint ad.” Mona laughs. “If you don’t remember the body paint, you must’ve really had some fun last night. And you know what?” She peers out her window at the line of people in the street below. “People got the message. There’s already people lined up at the free clinic to get Nano-Infix. How you guys coordinated this so fast I have no idea. People are getting the injections at clinics and doctors’ offices from coast to coast. It’s all over the news.”

  “Mona, can I meet you somewhere?” Rachel inhales quickly. “I’m afraid. I feel like you’re the only person I can trust.”

  “Sure, Rach. Is something wrong with the Nano-Infix? Are you alright?”

  “I’m okay. I just need to talk to you right away. This can’t wait. Can we meet somewhere in public, but with not a lot of people around? I don’t trust people anymore. I don’t trust myself.” Rachel shivers and props her leg up on the bed. She glides her finger over the smooth skin of her knee.

  “Do you know where Penny Pot Park is?”

  “I can GPS it.”

  “It’s half an hour from Atlantic City. Meet me at the front gate, and we’ll walk the trails. The park should be nearly deserted this time of year.”

  Rachel takes a quick shower and dresses. Her cell phone rings. She checks the display – Dr. Terrill. She stares at the phone until it stops ringing, then checks out of the hotel and drives to the park.

  Mona waves at Rachel from the park gate. “You can park anywhere,” she yells out. “Looks like there’s no one else here yet.”

  Rachel hops out of her car in a halter top, wrap-around skirt, and stiletto heels. She wobbles across the gravel parking lot, holding her arms out for balance.

  Mona shakes her head. “Since when did you start wearing high heels?”

  “Since this morning. They really make me look boinkable, doncha think? Boink me, don’t doink me.”

  Mona stifles a laugh, and they head down a trail. Overhead, the trees block the sun, and the air is still and quiet. Their footsteps are muffled by a thick layer of pine needles.

  “So, Rach, what’s the emergency?”

  Rachel is silent.

  “Rachel? There’s nobody else around. You can tell me. Please, Rach… ”

  Rachel stops walking, throws her head back, and laughs. “Gotcha! I really had you fooled, didn’t I?” She claps her hands with glee.

  Mona crosses her arms and frowns at Rachel. “What are you talking about?”

  “I played a joke. A prank. A gag. There’s no emergency.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “There’s nothing to understand.” She shrugs. “I was just kidding about being afraid and not trusting people. I said that just to get you out of the city so we could catch up on each others’ lives. Somewhere quiet. Pretty good, huh?”

  Mona shakes her head. “Rach, this isn’t like you. You’re not the Rachel I used to know.”

  “Aw, come on.” She playfully punches Mona’s arm. “You’re always telling me how I need to be more spontaneous, more daring, more free-spirited. Don’t you see how free I am now?” She raises her arms and twirls, laughing. “I’m so happy, so strong, so full of energy.” She grabs Mona’s wrists. “Get the injection, Mona. Trust me. It’s the best thing you’ll ever do.”

  Mona breaks free of Rachel’s grasp and takes a step back. “What happened last night, Rachel?”

  “Huh? You mean at the Eel?”

  “No, after the Eel. Did you leave with somebody?”

  “Yes. I met someone nice and took him back to my hotel room.”

  “And you didn’t tell me about this already? The old Rachel would’ve been pouring her guts out by now!”

  “Well, I’m not the old Rachel anymore. I’m young and fresh. Youthful and nubile. I’m the new, sexy Rachel.” She swivels her hips and runs her fingers down her sides. “Can’t you see how much better I am? I’m more free-spirited than you are now.” She hops from foot to foot, and her spike heels gouge into the packed earth. “Nano-Infix, Nano-Infix… ” she chants.

  Mona stares open-mouthed at Rachel’s twirling and dancing. “Okay. Then prove it. Come with me to the institute today. It’s Sunday, so nobody else should be there.”

  “Why? The place will be locked.”

  “Trust me, Rach. You just told me you’re not afraid and that you trust people. So prove it.” She grabs Rachel’s hand and they walk back up the trail.

  “You’re right,” Rachel says. “We should go to the institute and get you an injection.”

  “I’m
not getting an injection. I’m getting to the bottom of this.”

  Rachel shrugs. “The needle isn’t all that big, if that’s what concerns you.”

  On the highway, Rachel speeds. Mona alternately closes her eyes and implores Rachel to slow down. Rachel smiles and presses the accelerator, her arm dangling of the window. The icy air blasts through the car. Three hours later, they’re in the parking lot of the institute.

  “Leave the keys in the ignition,” Mona says. “We may have to make a quick getaway.”

  Rachel skips ahead past the bubbling wishing well, then pauses. She turns her head. The miniature ice crystals sparkle in the sun. She stands there blinking, mesmerized, hugging her chest. “The ice… ” she mutters. “You’ve got to get a grip or you’ll fall.”

  “What?” Mona says.

  He face blank, Rachel slowly turns to face Mona. “A grip,” she mutters, rubbing her forehead. “I don’t know if I have a grip.” She kicks off her high heels and pulls off her nylons.

  Mona holds out her hand. “Rach, you’re scaring me.”

  She hops on one bare foot and lifts her other foot high in the air. “Look at my toe, Mona. Look!”

  Mona shakes her head. “What? Are you crazy? Have the ‘bots blurred your brain?”

  “What do you see?” she says, pointing her foot at Mona.

  “I see a toe.”

  “Look closer.”

  Mona grabs Rachel’s foot and holds it up to her face. “A foot with five toes.”

  “Do you see a splinter in the bottom of my big toe?”

  Mona squints at Rachel’s foot. “No.”

  “I had a huge splinter deep in my toe yesterday. Today it’s gone. The ‘bots ate it.”

  Mona drops Rachel’s foot. “So don’t you see how powerfully dangerous those things are? And they’re intelligent – you even said so in your speech! If they’re powerful enough to eat wood, just think what they could do to the rest of your body. And you wouldn’t be able to stop them. You need help!” She grabs Rachel’s arm and shoes and runs to the front of the medical wing. At the door, she takes Terrill’s billfold from her jacket pocket, flips through the contents, and pulls out his ID. After a few waves over the sensor, the door unlocks.

  In Terrill’s lab, Mona rummages through the cabinets while Rachel plays with the lab rats.

  “Hey, Rach, check this out,” Mona calls over her shoulder. “Terrill still does some things old school. Lucky for us, ‘cause my computer hacking skills are a bit rusty.” She holds up a clipboard of scribbled notes. “He titled this, ‘Idea for a Fiction Novel.’ Looks like it’s all about Nano-Infix.” She quickly reads through the pages. “Listen – on the last page, he wrote, ‘The nanobots are now sentient, and are motivated to repair damage to their hosts. When there’s no damage to repair, they activate the risk centers of their hosts’ brains. At the same time, the nanobot are recursively self-improving, and becoming better at repairing damage – faster and more efficient.’ Are you listening, Rach?”

  “Yeah, I’m listening. It’s his ideas for a fiction novel. Big whoop.” She kisses a lab rat on the nose. “Such a bonny rat! I’ll call you Borat.”

  Mona scrolls down the page. “Ah, here we go: ‘My first self-injection will be tonight. I expect my life functions will be radically improved and my life span will be perpetually extended. This is what I programmed Nano-Infix to do. There will be no further entries to this journal unless myself or the rats exhibit undesirable side effects.’ So he did inject himself first! And he didn’t tell you that, did he Rachel?”

  The lab door crashes open, and Terrill stomps across the room and grabs the clipboard from Mona’s hand.

  Screaming, Mona grabs the rat from Rachel’s hand and tosses it at Terrill. He bats it away in mid-air, and it slams to the floor. The rat twitches a few times, springs to its feet, and begins to explore the lab.

  “I didn’t know you were a thief, Mona,” Terrill says calmly as he puts his clipboard back in the cabinet. “Now give me my billfold.”

  She lays the billfold on the examination table.

  He slips it in his pocket. “Now I’m gonna have to ask you to sign a waiver.” He opens a drawer and reaches inside. “It’s mandatory.”

  “Hey, look, you two!” Rachel says. “I trained Borat to sit on my shoulder.” She pets the rat, and it nibbles her ear.

  Terrill pulls a needle out of the drawer, swings around, and grabs Mona’s arm. She shrieks and twists out of his grasp. Terrill reaches into his lab coat and pulls out Rachel’s nylons, and Mona runs past him to the door. He loops the nylons around Mona’s neck, and she spins around, punching him in the face. He laughs and wipes his bloody nose with his sleeve.

  “Is this what you want, Rachel?” Mona yells. “Is this the freedom you’re talking about? Nano-Infix by force? Look what it’s done to Terrill! It’ll do the same thing to you. To everybody. An entire nano nation!”

  Rachel holds out her hands to Mona and Terrill. “We’ve all been friends for a long time, guys,” she says, frowning. “Our goals are-”

  Terrill grabs Mona again, but Rachel thrusts her own arm in front of the needle and is re-injected. “See, it’s that easy,” she says.

  Mona runs from the building, jumps in Rachel’s car, and starts the drive back to Atlantic City.

  “Let her go. You can find her later,” Terrill says. “Now how about that exam? Just for an official end to the testing period.”

  After excelling on Terrill’s physical and cognitive examination, Rachel puts Borat in her pocket and speeds back to Atlantic City in Terrill’s car.

  Back in her familiar stomping ground, Mona ditches Rachel’s car in a parking lot. Winding her way around throngs of newly nano-injected people reveling in the street, she finds the nearest train station to take refuge.

  That night, riding the trains topless and barefoot, Rachel finds Mona’s hide-out behind a train ticket machine. Mona runs to the far side of the station. “Don’t be afraid, Mona. Trust me,” Rachel calls out, skipping toward Mona. “Please, come here. I want to show you something.”

  Mona backs away from Rachel until she reaches the station wall. “Let me do it on my own, Rachel. I’ll get the injection. I just want to do it in a clinic, not in a train station.”

  “You don’t understand. I just want to help you.”

  “I do understand! It’s you who doesn’t get it. You’re not thinking for yourself anymore, the ‘bots are thinking for you. I read you Terrill’s notes, remember? All of the nanobots – the injected ‘bots and the ‘bots in vials – they’re evolving as one entity. So the later you get the injection, the faster you lose your free will. They have collective super-intelligence, Rachel! The ‘bot collective is programmed to self-improve in its own interest!”

  “Watch this.” Rachel reaches into her pocket, pulls out Borat, and slams the rat against the wall. Borat drops to the floor, springs to its feet, and climbs up Rachel’s leg. It disappears into her pocket.

  “Look at you, Rachel, look at what you’ve become!”

  Rachel pulls a knife from her pocket, and Mona screams. Rachel saws off her own hand.

  “Rachel!” Mona yells, her face red and wet with tears. “You’re not a life support system for nanobots. Fight them, Rachel! Fight for your free will!”

  Rachel holds up her bloody stump, and inch by inch, her hand and fingers grow back. The stump of the severed hand of the floor heals over, and the fingers start to wiggle. Rachel laughs. She grabs a metal trash can with her new hand, crumples it, and flings it against a wall. She grabs the knife with her new hand and starts sawing on her other wrist.

  Mona runs and jumps on Rachel, grabbing the knife handle. They fall to the floor. “Fight the ‘bots, Rach, fight them!” The bloody handle slips, and the blade slices Mona’s finger. She gasps and jumps to her feet.

  A horn blares in the distance.

  “The blood… the ‘bots,” Mona says, clutching her hand.

  The horn blare grows clos
er.

  Mona raises her hands to her face and presses her palms against her eyes. “No… no… This can’t be happening.” She raises her fists in the air and lets out a strangled cry. “I will not let them… ” She gasps for breath and rubs her hands over her face, smearing it with blood. “I will not be a host.” She shuts her eyes, steps off the platform, and into the path of a train. Her body crushes on impact, and lands at the side of the tracks.

  Rachel stands at the edge of the platform, looking down. The train stops, a newly injected group of converts jumps out of the train, and another clinic-bound group climbs aboard. The train leaves. A couple minutes pass, and Mona stands up, her head mangled and bloody. She staggers to the platform, reaches for Rachel’s hand, and Rachel pulls her up. Mona stands on the platform, her arms raised in triumph over her head – whole, healed, and smiling.