For Every Action - The Quantum Mechanic Series Book I

A little over a week after Eddie and his team made their astounding offer Tammy received a notice to bring Jessica back to C-7. On any other day she would have been thrilled to have that happen, since either decision meant good things for the girl. A yes meant she would get a miraculous, if risky, shot at being normal again. A no meant she would finally get to go home and start rebuilding her life.

But today had already been an emotional rollercoaster. She just didn’t feel like she had enough left to process another big event. The day had begun with the news that Lieutenant Rogers had started having heart fibrillations at two in the morning. Despite a valiant effort by Dr Ginney, he had gone on to have a full cardiac arrest twenty-two minutes later. Resuscitation efforts had failed and by the time she started her shift at six his bay had already been completely reset. It was as if the young man had never been there, and the empty bay felt like the loss of his life’s future. Then at nine forty she’d almost had a cardiac arrest herself when a shriek of completely hair raising proportions came out of bay five. She had bolted from her desk in panic and practically flew through the bay doors to find Theresa Vallard standing at the foot of Sergeant Clark’s bed. She was trembling and her eyes were as big as dinner plates when she stammered, “He... he... he touched me! He GRABBED me!”

Tammy had started to turn to the bed when she did a double take. Slowly coming back face to face with Theresa, she looked down to see that the redhead’s purple and green scrub bottoms were down almost to her knees along with a pair of comically tiny panties. Fortunately, the long scrub top Vallard was wearing had preserved her dignity. Looking back up at the girl’s face she could see that something had really happened here. So she closed the door and slid the transparency slider to the top, turning the front wall an opaque white. “Theresa, uh... why are your pants down?”

With an indignant pout the girl pointed to the bed, “He PULLED them down!“, and then began struggling to pull them up with her one free hand. Glancing over at the bed Tammy could see nothing unusual. So she quickly stepped over and took the work slate from Theresa’s other wobbling hand. This allowed the girl a few moments to restore her dignity and Tammy turned back to the bed to start checking Clark’s vitals.

She was beginning to wonder if Vallard’s ditsyness had begun to slide over into what she had heard the younger men call “The Crazy”. It seemed to be something attractive young girls were particularly prone to these days. But then, with a barely contained yelp, she herself practically leaped over the bed. As it was she was only able to contain herself to a high pitched squeak, and an arm flailing jig that slammed her right knee into the bed. Hopping on one foot from the pain, she reached behind her and was astonished to find Clark’s left hand gripping her right ass cheek firmly... VERY firmly. “Sergeant Clark!?!?” she asked tentatively as she pried his grip from her buttock, “Can you hear me?” Reaching out she placed her left hand on his chest and rubbed and was surprised when a low murmur came from the man. But it was too indistinct to make out. So she leaned in close to his face and asked again, “Sergeant Clark?” After a long moment the murmur returned and she made out two words “otherrr... ass” but his voice sounded dry and raspy. Before she even had time to ask, Theresa had rounded the other side of the bed and was spooning a sliver of ice chips into his mouth. Slowly he worked them around and his voice grated out again, slightly louder, “The... other one’s got a... better ass.”

That had been almost three hours ago, and as she finished up the last of her shift paperwork Tammy looked up at bay five. Dr Sallinger was in with him now and they appeared to be arguing about something. Sallinger was tapping his slate and gesturing, while Clark simply sat with his massive ham hocks crossed over his chest. She supposed that Clark’s return to his normal gritty self was a good sign. His vitals had been steadily improving and his responses and reflexes seemed relatively normal. It surprised her because she had to admit that she hadn’t expected him to live through the day, much less wake up mentally intact. His final EEG and response tests were scheduled for this afternoon and Sallinger didn’t believe in extra innings. She’d personally seen him flip off the life support for a similar patient as though he was just turning off the lights. If Clark had waited another six hours to start playing grab-ass with Nurse Vallard he might have spent the seventh in the morgue.

Although in this man’s case she wasn’t sure that disconnecting life support would have brought an end to things. Master Sergeant Clark had survived a two-foot piece of metal rebar through his head, looked like he had a brick implanted in his chin, and had a physique like a stone wall. In fact, he had the densest bones and most powerful muscle mass that Eddie’s team had ever seen. They had taken a lot of samples from him and believed he could lift several times his own body weight without even having to work out. A belief the man had confirmed now that he was awake. This genetic mutation wasn’t unheard of. In the past it had produced toddlers able to do one-handed pushups at just six or seven months. But unlike those children, Clark’s bones were matched to his muscles and all of his descendants for several generations would inherit his advantages.

Great for the boys, Tammy thought… but God help any daughters he has. Egad.

Turning back to her charts she reminded herself of how unpredictable their work would always be and chastised herself for assuming he would die. It wasn’t like her to make mental bets on the welfare of patients and at a certain level it felt like a betrayal. Worse, it felt like another brick falling out of the formerly uncompromising wall of her professional detachment. Taken by itself the incident didn’t really mean much, but when she added in how far certain parts of her professionalism had degraded recently it brought her some concern. She’d seriously lost her objectivity about the girl and that wasn’t normal. Something was unraveling parts of her that had long remained tightly controlled. No matter how she searched herself though, she couldn’t find a good reason why she was slipping. Her self-discipline was sharper than ever, her health was great; she loved her job, and the people she worked with. She believed in what she was doing. No matter how she looked at it, it just didn’t add up.

Maybe the problem wasn’t professional? Sometimes she wondered if her biological clock was affecting her. She was getting to the age where it can start ticking like Big Ben. Jessica certainly brought out the mother hen in her, but that was to be expected considering her injuries from Corsica meant she probably would never be able to have her own children. It wasn’t like men were lining up for the job either. At other times she thought it was just something about the girl. She sure seemed to strike everyone as special and Tammy had never heard of anyone, much less Director Barnes, bend the rules the way they were bending for her. Either there was a rebel streak in that man that no one had seen coming or the one-two punch of the little girl’s lecture and Jacob’s death stare had seriously rattled him. Regardless, it was entirely outside of normal protocols.

Finished with her charts, Tammy filed them and grabbed her lunch from the break room. Although the outside walls of the ward displayed a live view of the manicured gardens above them and the entire facility was lit with daylight simulation lamps, Tammy could never entirely shake the feeling of being underground. So she preferred to go outside whenever possible to breath and see the sky. Today was no different despite the chill and so she bundled up and headed for her favorite spot near the east gate.

Lunch had been peaceful, and Tammy felt somewhat restored when she headed back down to Jessica’s room. When she arrived she was pleasantly surprised to see that the girl’s aunt and uncle were waiting with her. They looked pensive, but resolved, and so Tammy did her best to be businesslike and just focus on transferring the girl to her chair. Once Jessica was settled they walked out and proceeded in silence to the conference room where the same assembly of staff, technicians, and one overly polished bureaucrat awaited them. Respectfully, no one spoke as they took their places and Jessica set the brakes on her chair.

After a short silence (undoubtedly for effect, Tammy thought), Director Barnes flipped open the manila folder on the table in front of him and began. “So... I understand that you’ve had time to examine Dr Mather’s calculations Mr. Saylor?” Jacob, who was standing to Jessica’s right as usual, nodded slightly towards the Director who then asked, “And what is your opinion?”

After making them all wait through a very pregnant pause, Jacob replied, “Yes, his math is sound, if a bit circuitous. But all I can see is how the micronite governance system calculates load balancing for execution and the underlying logic for a few other control systems. This doesn’t tell me much about the AI that’s going to be running these bugs, and so I still have serious reservations about it being used on Jessica.” He gave them a moment to let that sink in. He understood more than they knew and he hadn’t been fooled.

“But, with all that said, I have to confess that what Eddie did to prove how far he was willing to go to give Jessica a normal life meant a lot to me. I can’t think of another way that someone could have demonstrated their devotion to her best interests. Like the Bible says ‘Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.’ But in the end it’s not my decision and I know Janelle feels the same way. This is Jessica’s choice and we’re going to support her no matter what she decides.” Then with that said he shifted back slightly, indicating he was finished.

Barnes nodded, and then turned to Eddie, “Your thoughts on that Eddie?” Eddie glanced at Jacob for a moment before starting “Well, uh... except for pointing out a few shortcuts we could have taken and giving us a more efficient factoring algorithm, everything looked... good.” It was obvious from his tone that Eddie was feeling seriously disquieted by the fact that a shade tree mechanic had just schooled him on post-doctorate level math.

Looking satisfied, Barnes folded his hands on the table and looked at Jessica.

“Jessica. I want you to know that I took what you had to say at the briefing very seriously. I’m sure from your perspective it seemed like I saw your rescuer as just another bad guy… I don’t.”

“It’s just that my job requires me to investigate every possibility, no matter how remote it might be. That means I have to focus on finding him and finding out for sure where his loyalties are. We’d also like to know how he did those things. If he could teach others how to do them it could save a lot of lives, or in the wrong hands it could do the opposite. I don’t sleep well knowing that there’s a person out there able to do the things I saw and I don’t know what their intentions are. There are a lot of people in Washington who feel the same way. I know because I just spent the last two weeks hearing from them.”

“I want you to know that I fought hard for him to be viewed as nothing more than a Good Samaritan until we see anything proving differently. I won that battle in some places, and I lost it in others, but where it mattered the most I won. The President agrees that this person has the right to not be considered hostile or even dangerous as long as he doesn’t do anything that shows otherwise. The man is a hero, not a criminal. He also agrees that you deserve a chance to walk again and lead a normal life, and so he’s authorized this treatment and given his full support. With any luck you’ll be the first of thousands of people that are made whole again by Eddie’s work. I certainly hope so.”

With that he sat back and closed the folder in front of him, and the room grew quiet as they waited for Jessica to respond. For a long time, she said nothing, but maintained an unwavering and steady level of eye contact with the Director. The silence stretched out to a painfully awkward degree until, with a determined look, she leaned forward and used her thumbless hand to grasp the chrome edge of the table. Pulling, she rocked herself forward and Tammy realized what she was doing. So she tried to lean over and help, but the girl ignored her. With a hard bang, Jessica propped the stump of her right wrist on the table and pushed down with all her strength. Both arms shook with effort, and it took her a moment, but with a grunt she managed to get what was left of her legs under her. She stood in her wheelchair, on the scarred and tender amputation points at the ends of her thighs. This was something that Tammy knew had to be excruciatingly painful. She had seen hardened combat veterans weep uncontrollably from the agony they felt the first time they put weight on their stumps. But if Jessica was in pain, she did not show it. Her delicate face was a rigid portrait of determination and control.

Then Tammy noticed that Jessica was wearing makeup for the first time she could remember. It wasn’t much; just a touch of blush, mascara, and lip gloss, but it was enough to hint at what the defiant little girl before them would become. Despite her devastating injuries, it was obvious that it wouldn’t be long before she was making love-struck fools out of boys, and jealous monsters out of other girls. She was definitely going to be a force to be reckoned with, and it didn’t look like the wheelchair, scars, or missing limbs were going to matter in the slightest.

Then the girl spoke, and shocked them all with a statement Tammy would more have expected to hear from Clark, the unkillable human gravel truck currently molesting her nurses.

“Well... I guess I’m supposed to say thanks, and say I’m sorry I yelled at you. But… but this doesn’t change anything. I mean, Mom and dad are still dead, I still look like this, and those things are still out there.” She punctuated ‘this’ by holding up her handless wrist.

“So no, I’m not apologizing. I still mean what I said”, she finished, and turned to face Eddie’s team. “I do wanna say thanks to all of you… especially Dr Eddie. Thanks for taking care of me and doing all this. I can’t believe you got yourself chopped up, just so you could prove you could fix me. I mean, I don’t know how I could ever make it up to you… I guess I can’t.”

Then she returned her gaze to Barnes, and her eyes grew steely again.

“When I yelled at you, I said you needed to go out there and find the monsters that killed mom n’ dad. But it’s been months now… and I haven’t heard anything.”

She paused for another moment, and Tammy could see the strain of holding herself was starting to wear her down. Still, it was remarkable how long she was lasting. It was longer than she had ever seen anyone last on their first try, and most people wept the entire time.

“But from what you said, I guess getting them to let Dr Eddie fix me was pretty awful. So… I guess I should say thanks for that.”

The girl let the last sentence trail off, and the wobble in her arms grew stronger for a moment before she spoke again.

“The answer is yes. I’m gonna do it, but not because anyone did me a favor.I’m doin it cause I’m gonna do what shoulda’ been done a long time ago. I’m gonna go out there and find those monsters, and I’m gonna find out how to kill them. I’ll do it with my bare fucking hands if I have to. Then I’m gonna find out who made them… and kill them too.”

Her voice cut through the air like a dagger, and Tammy could see her fury growing with every word. As she spoke, she slowly raised her arm and made slashing motions with the stump. It was a visceral reminder to take her seriously - physical proof of the price being paid.

Then Jessica’s eyes narrowed further. “Nothins’ gonna be right til’ they’re all dead.”

It was then that Tammy noticed the girl’s southern twang was fading, and figured the daily exposure to a mostly Midwestern staff was having an inevitable effect. But the look on her face, and the hard edge that had grown in her voice left no doubt. If this child ever got the chance, she would be the angel of death for the creatures that stole her innocence.

As Jessica finally tried to sit, her composure broke and Tammy could see the tears begin to stream from her eyes. With a half choked sob, she turned and clumsily wheeled her chair to the door, pushing away the hands that tried to help her. Tammy felt frozen to her chair by indecision, not knowing what to do as she watched Janelle run after the girl. Turning back, she saw the Director signing a form on the cover of the manila envelope with a series of wide slashing marks, and slide it across the table to Eddie. Then he stood with a curt “do it”, and moved to depart through the opposite door, but Jacob stopped him, “Director.”

As Barnes turned back, Tammy noticed that this time he had no trouble meeting Jacob’s gaze. “Yes Mr. Saylor?”, he responded, and the gathered staff fell conspicuously still, unsure where this interaction could be going.

“Although she can seem much older at times, Jessica is still a child. She speaks as a child, thinks as a child, and reasons as a child does. When she grows older she will eventually put aside the thinking of childhood, and see the world more clearly. I am certain that when that day comes, she will regret how she spoke to you, and wish that she could apologize. But we cannot know what the future holds, and she may never get the chance.”

As he spoke, Jacob continued to maintain eye contact, and Tammy watched as a strange look of recognition seemed to cross the Director’s face. It only lasted for a moment, and if she hadn’t been looking right at him she might have missed it. But it was there, and the Director quickly slammed it shut, and hid it behind his veneer of polished control.

Jacob went on, “So please accept my apology on her behalf. She has been hurt in a lot more ways, and a lot deeper than any of us can imagine. I can tell you from experience how much that sort of hurt can make you angry. It’s easy to unleash that anger on people who don’t deserve it, and I want you to know that I can see you’re doing everything you can to help her. You were merely a convenient target for her pain... and rage. Just because something happens when you’re in charge doesn’t make it your fault. You could not have predicted what they were going to do. Only evil can know the ways of evil. As good people, all we can do is deal with the aftermath, and from where I’m standing, you’re doing just fine.”

Jacob finished, and Tammy turned back to the Director just in time to spot that strange look of recognition as it crossed his face again. Then he spoke, and she was stunned by his reply.

“No apology is necessary Mr. Saylor. I hear and understand what you are saying, but nothing can change the fact that a lot of people have died on my watch, and it wasn’t the first time. They were all people who trusted me to protect them. So… I don’t blame her, and if I was your niece, well... I would probably hate me too.”

Then without waiting for a reply, the Director turned and strode out, and after a pause, Jacob departed through the same door as Jessica and Janelle. For a moment the room remained deathly still, and Tammy could see that the others were as shocked as her. But then the staff gradually began gathering themselves to go, and she finally saw an opportunity to speak to Eddie. So as the others bustled out through the various exits, she quickly crossed the room and laid her hand on his arm. “Eddie, do you have a moment?“, she asked, and with a shrug he waited with her while his team and the others shuffled out. Eventually the heavy doors closed with a solid thump, and they were alone.