Exterminator : The Dark Beneath

“ The tragedy of Columbus extended far beyond the horrific suffering and loss of life that occurred in the Implants volunteers. Its repercussions caused significant damaged the fields of nano-medicine, cybernetics and biomedical technology, but what hit Gentech most was the damage to their reputation. Facing a public relations disaster, the company resorted to a campaign of damage control unmatched in recent memory. Huge ad campaigns trumpeted the steps they were undertaking to right the issue, from compensation to the survivors and victims’ families, to stricter safeguards on their R&D teams. Of particular note, however, was a campaign to ensure the public blamed scapegoats identified by the corporation, and that punishment followed for those deemed responsible.“

-The Tragedy of Columbus: an Analysis by Simon Chen, United News

“Hello April, Juliet. How’s things?” Jack said softly, his blue eyes blank as he returned her stare and April struggled to comprehend what she was seeing. Of all the people in the universe, Jack was the last person she expected to find here.

He looked so different from her memories, his shoulders and arms larger. Jack had never been svelte, but his new look suggested a considerable amount of exercise. His hair was different as well, gone was the scruffy tousled blond hair, so prone to comically bad head hair in the mornings. Now it was somehow aggressive, almost reminding her of her father’s old military cut, a short back and sides or whatever, but slightly longer at the top and with three shaved horizontal stripes over each Temple that somehow didn’t strike her as being aesthetic. His face was harder, stripped of his puppy fat and somehow more worn, her eyes drawn to a faint scar just to the side of his left eye. His nose was also slightly different, a slight bump suggesting a break at some point.

But it was the eyes that threw her, so hard and unyielding, like deep wells of cold blue water, so unlike the warm pools she remembered. When she’d first met him Jack had been a joker, always ready with a quip or pun, but she and Juliet had both seen a hesitance in his eyes, as distance between him and his friends, like he expected to be hurt at any moment. When she learned about his upbringing she’d understood, part of him was always waiting for people he cared about to leave, to disappear.

Slowly they’d worked through his wariness and his eyes had softened, becoming warm and gentle.

They were hard now, projecting disinterest into the world. Gone was the warm soul she knew, replaced by a stranger, toughened and hardened by the world. April wanted to weep for his loss, and somehow she didn’t think he could anymore.

She started, realizing that no one had spoken for several seconds, and glanced over at Juliet, her friend still staring in disbelieve, her skin pale and eyes wide with shock. April coughed to clear her throat, suddenly desperate to say something, anything, to break the silence.

“What are you doing here Jack?“ she asked, her voice wobbling slightly.

“Well I live here so...” he replied sardonically, his body language noncommittal.

“I mean what are you doing on Ares?” she questioned.

“Well I’ve been stationed here for about two years now, you know working and living and all that, so really, since you’re both new here I think I should really be asking you that”

“So Jack, “ Juliet said firmly, finally snapping out of her shock “ you’re an Exterminator now? How did that happen?”

“Well, not that it’s any of your business but it’s my job now. The pay is crap and the hours suck, but hey, it beats prison”

“But why an Exterminator, why a job where you kill things, creatures that are doing nothing by try to survive in a environment we put them in?”

“Someone has to,“ he shrugged “besides, it turns out I’m pretty good at it.”

Juliet’s face went red and her eyes narrowed in anger and April braced herself for a blowout. For all her best friend’s many good points, she sometimes reacted badly to pressure. In the old days she might walk off in a huff, or get snarky, but since Columbus, whenever she was under pressure from someone she tended to strike out, going on the offensive. In this case she was most likely trying to cover her own feelings of guilt and betrayal.

“How could you Jack? Exterminators are the opposite of what we dreamed of, killing creatures that have adapted so well to a new environment that humans struggle in. All our work, all our research was to help people live on other planets, and your killing and burning creatures who managed it first!”

“Well I didn’t have much of a choice!“ Jack snapped, his cold manner breaking for a moment, causing Juliet and April to flinch. “I didn’t exactly have a lot of job offers as a convict, the old alumni network wasn’t exactly contacting disgraced cyberneticists residing in federal prison for job offers!”

He took a deep breath and seemed to collect himself before continuing sardonically “ Besides, it wasn’t as if I had any friends to discuss my decision with, you two had made it quite clear I wasn’t welcome any more!”

April grunted as his words hit her like a blow to the stomach, all the more painfully because they were true. When the first accusations of misconduct had hit their old research team she and Juliet had been adamant in their defence of Jack. There was no way that he would have cut corners on the project, he believed in the work too much. But the evidence continued to grow doubts slowly wormed their way in. Maybe Jack would cut corners if he thought it was worth the risk, he had always bemoaned the slow progress of getting new medical techniques into practice, complaining that so many people suffered waiting for lawyers and risk assessors to let new technique’s through.

Their professor and colleagues, who they had respected for years, all said Jack had cut corners, and slowly they had come to believe them. Both Juliet and herself were devastated. How could he do this, cause so many people harm? For weeks they had been sequestered in their apartments, bombarded by hate mail and accusations, the news constantly reporting on new heartbreaking stories of how the implant and materials they’d designed to improve people’s lives were instead causing them to suffer horrific complications, or even die.

But the final straw had been seeing the funeral a little girl streamed live of TV, her family weeping around her coffin. April was almost catatonic, and Juliet, filled with pain made her fateful visit to see Jack and confront him, something she regretted deeply.

Juliet’s eyes flared “ Fuck you Jack! You weren’t the only person who suffered, the whole team became pariahs, Professor Robinson was imprisoned, and poor Professor Julian took her own life out of guilt. Dr Adams and Dr Farage lost their certification, and we were blacklisted. Our friends abandoned us, we couldn’t find anyone to hire us, and my family haven’t spoken to me since then. We went through hell.”

“HELL!” Jack shouted, surging to his feet, face contorted with anger, causing both girls to step back in alarm” HELL! You think you went through hell? I went to prison, not a fancy white collar one like Robinson or that Executive guy. They sent me to Hades. Hades Juliet! The worst pit in the sector! Do you have any idea what that was like? No, you couldn’t, nothing prepares you for somewhere like that, nothing!”

April stared at Jack in mute horror. They’d known he’d been imprisoned, not where. At first they couldn’t even bring themselves to think about him. They’d tried to find out later, when the news of his innocence spread, begging the planetary government to tell them his location to try and apologise, but no one would say where he was sent.

The Monorail car suddenly slowed, causing April to stumble into Juliet, cutting off her friend’s reply. Looking around she realizing that they had been so caught up in their fight that they hadn’t ever realized they’d reached the Arcology. The other passengers where looking on at eh drama in silence, no one wanting to interrupt the scene in front of them.

Jack stepped past them to the door and waited for it to open, ignoring their presence. Juliet gathered herself and began to speak.

“Jack..”

“Enough!“ he cut her off, voice quiet. ”I’m sorry I shouted at you both. I tried to be civil, but I guess I still have too much anger in me.”

The door opened and he began to step off the train but paused, still not looking at them, his shoulders slumping.

“Why did you have to come here, off all places?”

He stepped off the train and marched away through the station, leaving them standing in shock, April slowly sinking back into a chair behind her for a moment before drawing a shuddering breath. Juliet started and shook her head and moved to sit beside her, both starring out into the station.

“Well April,” she joked weakly, ”welcome to the ARC. Looks like it’s going to be an interesting few years here”