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Endenantes
Everything That Rises

pretender_gurl




SL-21: Sydney's Office
The Centre
14:02


Sydney looked around in disbelief. His office had been trashed. A glass paperweight from his desk had smashed through the window in his door, his DSA player was ruined, and Jarod's red notebooks were now lying all over the floor, pages ripped out and torn. He let his eyes wander over the destruction and come to rest on the ventilation shaft. Sydney walked over to the vent and looked closely at the grate. It was out of place, turned the wrong way on the opening.

As he stared at the shaft, something clicked and he dashed out of the office and to the stairwell. Running down the two flights of stairs, he emerged on SL-23 and jogged past the Sweepers stationed throughout the corridors. When he reached room 2303, his fingers flew over the keypad. The lock hissed and the door slid back. Sydney entered the room, gave it one look, and cursed. Jarod was gone.

SL-23: Room 2309
The Centre
14:06


Jira heard footsteps running down the corridor. She shrank back into the corner of the room, her frail body trembling as she held her knees to her chest. Reaching out with her mind, she could tell that this person was extremely anxious. His apprehension pervaded the sub-level and Jira was having difficulty separating this man's feelings from her own.

The footsteps stopped before they reached her end of the corridor. She heard a door unlocking, followed quickly by a loud curse. The footsteps retreated back into the corridor and she heard voices.

"Initiate Code Red Emergency - a Pretender is missing," said a voice with a Flemish accent.

"Yes, Doctor," replied one of the Sweepers.

Within seconds of this exchange, alarms began to wail throughout the Centre. Jira heard her lock triple bolt and the lights in her room came up to their maximum potential. She blinked in the sudden brightness, and when her pupils adjusted, she saw Sweeper after Sweeper glance in through the rectangular window, making sure she was in her room. Jira curled tighter into a ball and watched with wide eyes as the bowels of the Centre sprang to life.

SL-5: Tech Room
The Centre
14:07


Alarms were blaring and red lights flashed all over the Tech Room. Broots sat at his terminal furiously typing in code after code, checking camera after camera, looking for the errant Pretender. He took a moment to glance over at Lenny. The poor man was sweating profusely as he reviewed capture after capture of the Pretender, trying to discover where he had gone missing and how long ago. Lenny was in charge of the surveillance of Subject #PP6063, Broots thought his name was Jarod or something like that. Lenny was planning a wedding with his fiancé and had been getting very little sleep. He must have dozed off while watching his subject. Broots shuddered as he thought about what the Tower would do when they found out. And from the wet stains under Lenny's arms, Broots guessed that Lenny was having similar thoughts.

The Streets of Blue Cove
Blue Cove, DE
14:09


Jarod closed his eyes for a moment and let the breeze wash over him as he ran. He had left the Centre via the air ducts that Miss Parker had shown him as a child. Now he was searching for that little girl. Jarod had stopped by the Tech Room and retrieved the location of the Parker mansion. Using coordinate directions, he quickly calculated the fastest route.

Thirty minutes later, he was standing in front of a dark brick manor. Jarod quickly made his way to the back of the house and scanned all the access points. He decided that the old cellar entrance left over from the Civil War days would be the best course of action. The lock was a simple one and it took Jarod seconds to unlock the door. Then he carefully opened the door enough to slip into the abandoned cellar. Jarod had no idea that he had just tripped a silent alarm.

Office of the Chairman
The Centre
14:08


"How the hell did this happen?" Mr. Parker exclaimed.

"We don't know, sir. He must have escaped sometime in the last hour," Sydney said, trying to stay calm. In truth he was a wreck. Not only had he lost his lifelong research subject, but he had no confidence in Jarod's ability to survive in the outside world.

"He couldn't have gotten far! Find him, dammit!" Mr. Parker growled.

Sydney was about to leave when Mr. Parker's personal Sweeper entered the office.

"Excuse me, Mr. Parker, but there's a situation that needs your immediate attention," the man said without expression.

"Oh for god sakes, what now?" Mr. Parker exclaimed.

"The security system at the mansion indicates there may be an intruder."

Mr. Parker's face began to flush in anger. "Jarod!" he cried. "Get a Sweeper team out there now!"

"I've already dispatched two, sir."

"Why would Jarod be there? Why wouldn't he leave Blue Cove?" Sydney asked the Chairman through narrowed eyes.

"Are you questioning my judgment, Sydney?" Mr. Parker asked incredulously.

Sydney gave the chairman a knowing smirk and dismissed himself from the room. If Jarod was at the Parker mansion, Sydney needed to get there before the Sweeper teams found the Pretender, or Jarod would be in grave danger.

Mr. Raines's Office
The Centre
14:11


"You're saying the boy Perceived? That's impossible!" Mr. Raines growled at his young apprentice.

Mr. Lyle looked confused. "Why is that? His sister can do it!"

"Of course she can!" Raines snapped impatiently. He took a deep, wheezing breath and stopped pacing to look at Lyle. "Jonas never received the Perceiving gene."

"You mean these kids aren't twins?" Lyle asked.

"Besides the sex chromosome, only a few dozen of Gemini's 80,000 genes differ. They are more genetically similar than fraternal twins," Raines explained, his impatience growing every moment.

"And I take it that the girl is the only one with the Perceiving gene," Lyle stated.

"Yes, which makes the boy's vision a mystery," Mr. Raines muttered.

"Perhaps Sydney could explain it with all of his research on twins," Lyle answered nonchalantly.

Raines scowled at him. "Sydney is not to have any knowledge of the boy. His attachment to the original Pretender would hinder his objectivity. But you may be on to something, Lyle," Raines said, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "I'm going to set up a fifteen minute session between Jira and Sydney. While he is chatting with her, I want you to access his research in SIM Lab 1. Am I clear?"

"Of course sir. I'll make the call immediately."

"No. I think it's time we show the Triumvirate just how useful Project Gemini can be. Get the girl," Raines wheezed.

"Jira? What for?"

Raines curled his lips upwards evilly, "She's going to find our missing Pretender."









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