August 9 2121

  Valencia had just finished her story. I was no closer to the answers I was looking for, and worse yet, I had listened to her talk about how she'd illegally broke up a strike by killing several union members.

  “Valencia.. This... You sounded almost proud of this”, I said, flabbergasted.

  “Maybe at the time I was, but now... I'm trying to just tell what happened, how it happened”, she said to me. “Now, remember those hard drives? A few days after all of this, OCP got the shipping manifest for O.A. Labs. Do you know what they were importing?”

  “No, how could I possibly know that?”, I answered.

  “The manifest said they were importing water, but the density was wrong. The shipment was far heavier than it should have been.”

  “The density?”, I asked, wondering where this was going.

  “Yes, the density. They were importing thousands of 200 liter barrels of water, but the weight of each barrel came out to 220kg, plus the weight of the barrel”, she explained.

  “So the weight was off. Where is this going? Weapons, drugs, cybernetics?”

  “No, it was water. Heavy water. You know, water made with deuterium.”

  “Okay, and? What were they doing with heavy water?”

  “Nuclear research. Heavy water was an early mediator in nuclear fission. O.A. Labs could have been doing neutrino research, running a reactor, or even just breeding plutonium. The thing is that nobody knew what was being done with the materials, and that was a problem”, Valencia explained.

  I grabbed my cup of coffee and took a drink. It had long since gone cold.

  “So”, I began, choking down the coffee, “What happened after? I couldn't imagine your employers were happy with the situation. It sounds like you ultimately failed.”

  “Yeah, we did. We were supposed to kill Vernan silently. The final casualty amount was about 20 killed, several more wounded”, she said flatly.

  “Christ”, I blurted out. “You don't have any remorse, do you?”

  “It won't bring anyone back”, she replied, her eyes filled with sorrow. “I am reminded in perfect clarity , on a daily basis, of the faces and the names of those I've hurt. I was given perfect memory and then sent to do terrible things. I understand I'll never be forgiven, and that's fine. Don't weep for me, for I chose everything I've done.”

  A silence hung in the air. I couldn't take any more of this today.

  “Could we finish this tomorrow? I.. I can't stomach anymore of this”, I asked.

  “That's fair. Yeah, I can give you my address, and if you want the rest of the story, come by tomorrow. I'll have the rest ready”, Valencia replied.

  I agreed to this, and Valencia stood up and gathered her bag. She wished me to have a good evening as she left. I sat there for an hour, thinking about what she'd told me about. I used my mental computer to transcribe the video to text, and sent it to my laptop.

  I sat down, adding the transcription of the conversation to my thesis research. I'm not sure how much use any of this is, since I'm no closer to getting any answers for how the ecology changed in the Chicago area. There were square starfish living on the shores of Lake Michigan. The insects had gotten larger and more aggressive. Then there was the mountain in the room. Reportedly, Chicago was destroyed by a volcanic eruption. Something unthinkable, the city being so far away from the tectonic plate's edge. The city isn't even near the New Madrid Seismic Zone.

  But..... Heavy water was being shipped into the city. Maybe a nuclear test happened underground? I laughed to myself at the insanity of a nuclear test under a city.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  My night began to wind down, and I soon fell asleep.

  The next day, I woke up to an email from Valencia. She'd given me her address in Eagle River and requested I come by 830. I quickly showered and dressed myself, and walked to a convenience store for some coffee. I ordered a taxi on the walk to the shop, and by the time I checked out, It had arrived.

  I arrived at Valencia's house forty minutes later, and ten minutes late. I was about to knock on the door, as it opened.

  “Mr. Taylor, welcome! Have you eaten yet? I had made myself breakfast, and decided to make an extra serving just in case”, she spoke before I had a moment to react.

  “Good morning, Valencia. You startled me, were you wat- yeah, you probably were. Yes, wait no I.. I haven't eaten yet, no.” I responded as best as I could.

  Valencia was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. I got a good look at the armor sockets. They were worn and scratched up, the black paint faded and peeled away in many places.

  I followed Valencia inside, where she showed me to her kitchen table. I sat down at one of the chairs, and Valencia set a plate in front of me. A toasted bagel with cream cheese, onions, and smoked salmon sat before me. As I started to eat, I felt a cat brush up against my leg.

  I held out my hand toward the cat, who proceeded to sniff it and hiss, before moving away.

  Valencia was moving electronics while I ate. She brought a bundle of wires and circuit boards connected to a monitor to the kitchen table.

  As I finished eating, I noticed a picture on the wall. It was Valencia and 3 others, wearing lab coats and jeans. One had a cybernetic jaw and a matching hand. Sitting on the shoulder of one of the men was one of the square starfish. I stood and walked to the picture to get a better view, and get a copy for myself.

  This woman knew more than she was letting me in on.

  “Valencia, when was that picture taken?”, I asked, the words barely escaping my mouth.

  “Oh, that? That was some time in 2078. Don't worry, We'll get there, I promise. I'm sure you're curious about Matthew”, Valencia said, laughing as she finished setting up the machine she had set before me.

  She left the room for a minute. I could hear the rustling of opening a safe. Valencia soon returned, a small wooden box in hand, and set it on the table.

  “These are memory shards from Alex, James, and Max. These were thrust upon me after we all quit working for Omni Corp Pharmaceuticals. Each one carries a memory I believe will help paint the picture of how this all came to be. This one here, for example, gave me the answer to a question I had years ago in college”, she explained, picking up a chip.

  “What would that be?”

  “What ever happened to that cat, Wojtek, of course!”, Valencia said as she loaded the memory onto the screen.