Roll the Dice - Chapter 6 (7/9)

[mangacat201]

Chapter Five

“I’m very glad to see you seem to be faring well, Jensen, after the incident report came in; I wasn’t quite sure what state I’d find you in when we spoke next.”

Jensen nodded and thanked Lt. Com. Morgan for his kind words. They might have been a little impersonal, but Jensen had worked with the man long enough to recognize the tension around his eyes, and the flat line of his lips as a sign of genuine worry. He was also quite sure that he wasn’t the only focus of Morgan’s thoughts, so he proceeded with update on their current research.

“I’m alright, thanks, and nothing happened that a couple of weeks of light exercise and a little more rest than I customarily require can’t fix.”

It was true, even if ‘light exercise’ in this case meant taking agonizingly deep breaths on a regular basis to keep him from getting pneumonia no matter how little his aggravated ribs liked the procedure.

“And I can also assure you that the amount of progress we’ve made since then has surpassed my expectations by far. Rehabilitation of sensory and motor functions advances with a 20% acceleration compared to our average case studies, and we’re slowly moving into a territory where we can test his performance level above the 100% percent average.”

Morgan nodded gravely, and Jensen waited for him to ask about what he really wanted to know, since these personal updates were more pro forma than not. Jensen knew Morgan could find everything that had happened over the last week documented in the detailed report Jensen had sent him earlier today.

“I… may I be frank?” At Jensen’s nod he continued. “What I really want to know… how is he?”

Jensen wanted to sigh as he thought about which way to best describe Jared’s state of mind. He knew they were not talking about muscle development or hand-to-eye coordination, but Jared’s defiant lack of cooperation, his initial mistrust in the proceedings until everything had been explained to him in detail, and his stubborn refusal to accept counselling to address the sporadic symptoms of post traumatic stress and the body image issues that arose from his situation.

“He’s… dealing. He won’t accept most of the help we are trying to give him, but at least he’s not fighting me anymore on every step of the way. I’m doing whatever I can to make the transition easier, but I’m not exactly his favourite person in the world. He can be quite stubborn if he wants to be.”

A smile stretched Morgan’s lips and he nodded.

“That sounds like him.”

Jensen looked down for a moment before meeting the Commander’s eyes again. He needed a moment to keep his thoughts under wraps. Besides Chris, Morgan had always been the person on the team that he felt most comfortable talking too, but given his background with Jared, Jensen didn’t dare broach the subject of the rising tension between them that was of a different kind. He hadn’t mentioned it in the report of course, and he certainly hadn’t forgotten the threat that Jared had issued when they’d struck their deal. Jensen had kept his feelings under wraps and out of Jared’s personal space as much as possible within the boundaries of medical examination, but he couldn’t help feeling that the current ran both ways sometimes. He had denied himself even the speculation, afraid of where that road might lead and now shook himself out of his thoughts to bid Morgan goodbye, before he could blurt out the whole sordid story. After the Commander had logged off, Jensen scrubbed his hands over his face and told himself that he needed to get back into the game. After all, there still was the small matter of investigating how Jared’s unique situation had come about. With the readings of the tests and training sessions, he had by now gotten a pretty good idea how Jared’s body workedand some fairly accurate calculations of his top performance levels. He still wasn’t any closer to the ‘why’ though, and the avid scholar inside of him demanded answers.

~*~

Jared breathed heavily through clenched teeth and then groaned with desperate abandon.

“That’s it, push just a little bit harder.”

He glared at the doctor through his sweat-soaked bangs. 

“You’re sure you run a medical facility here and not a government approved torture chamber?”

“Quite so I’m afraid. I need to push you to the limit if I’m going to get to know what it is. You didn’t think this was going to be fun, did you?”

If Jared had a hand free, he would have resorted to a rude gesture in response, but as it was he had to resort to blowing his cheeks up and focusing on not letting the weight drop. His arms started to tremble imperceptibly, but he was determined to give the doctor something to brag about if he had to endure this gruelling regimen. The past couple of weeks had been mostly dedicated to rehabilitation, but now they were slowly going beyond what he had been able to do Before. It still gave Jared whiplash when he thought about how fast his body had recovered from the traumatic ordeal. His mind was a whole different can of worms though. His nightmares alternated between the mind-numbing sounds of war, and horrific scenarios of being suddenly remote-controlled and a prisoner in own body.

Jared closed his eyes and concentrated on the exercise in an attempt to wipe his mind clean of these frightening and ultimately futile musings. At least the relationship with his caretakers had lost a good deal of the strain that had coloured their first interactions, to the point of being able to banter, even though Jared couldn’t help but keep his distance.

“That’s enough for today, you can let go, but make sure you set it down carefully.”

“I got it, don’t worry.”

Doctor Ackles looked at him with those expressive eyes, and Jared saw that he wanted to hover, but made the effort to refrain.

“I’m going to have to look you over more thoroughly today, since we went over capacity, and I want to make sure everything is still running smoothly.”

Jared nodded as he walked over to the side of the room and hopped onto the exam table, but a knot formed in the pit of his stomach. The doctor was entirely professional, voice calm and collected as he asked Jared to remove his t-shirt and spread his arms to the side. But still, the brush of fingertips following the groves of his muscles, careful pressure searching for possible tissue damage felt scorching on his skin even as gooseflesh broke out all over his torso. He hadn’t been touched at all except in a clinical manner, but the doctor’s close presence during those examinations had begun to catch up with Jared.

He knew what it was, of course he knew. His first reaction to the kiss had been a mix of age-old repression, and the volatile cocktail of emotions that had raced through him. But if he was quite honest, he wouldn’t have thought twice about giving in to this mutual attraction under any other circumstances.

“You seem lost in your thoughts a lot today.”

The comment startled him out of his thoughts, and he flinched a little, feeling the doctor recede another half step with a familiar, wary tension hanging between them. No matter which way you looked at it, they never seem to get it quite right.

“It’s… nothing, I’m alright, just…”

Ackles nodded absentmindedly and put the stethoscope into his ears to check Jared’s heartbeat. It was only a couple of seconds before a rush of dizziness hit Jared out of the blue again, and the pulse in his ears turned into a loud, insistent thumping and then into an offbeat staccato that was two heartbeats mixed and matched. Then other sounds filtered in, making his head spin. He felt his breath accelerate as vertigo swept over him. These unexpected influxes of data were still most unsettling for him.

“Goddamnit, I can’t deal with this.”

“It’s ok, you’re ok, just … breathe slowly, no don’t, slow and steady, in and out, that’s it, ride it out. In and out, now close your eyes and listen; are you listening? Good, no tone it down. That’s it, turn the volume down, just… so.”

Jared opened his eyes and blinked away the moisture, before he let out a relieved breath at the fact that everything seemed to be normal again. He could deal with the physical stuff, bench-pressing a bit more than he was used to, quicker reflexes, but the sensory data overload that just flickered on and off without his conscious decision threw him into a loop every time. It was proof that this … foreign thing in his body that did things without his say so was really there, and it scared him. What scared him even more was how easily the doctor seemed to be able to talk him out of those episodes. He took a deep breath and lifted his eyes to the concerned expression on the doctor’s face.

“How do you always know what to say?”

“I… I don’t, I just…”

“Never mind,” Jared had had enough handholding for the day. “I’m going to go… get some rest.”

Doctor Ackles opened his mouth to say something else, but he seemed change his mind mid-thought and just nodded, making a sweeping gesture for the door. Jared could feel his gaze burning at the back of his head, but he refused to turn around and ask for comfort, even though he longed nothing more than share his fears with someone he trusted. He couldn’t trust anyone here, no matter how much he wanted to.

Jensen looked at Jared’s retreating back and balled his fists in the coarse material of his lab-coat. He badly wanted to go after his patient, because he understood the thoughts clearly written all over his face, even when Jared thought himself subtle. It wasn’t his place though, Jensen had to remind himself. His place was here, saving lives, making them better and then letting them go when their time was up. It wasn’t Jared’s fault that he was a very special case in so many respects. Jensen turned back and busied himself with the analysis of the data they had gathered that day. As expected, Jared’s motor performance had begun to surpass his natural average level to increase to about 130%, but that seemed to be the threshold. He wouldn’t be able to punch in walls (not concrete walls anyway.) or jump buildings, but his strength and endurance were well above average, equipping him with the ability to persevere in the most hostile environments a lot better than before. A quite useful skill to have, sure, but not something that they hadn’t ever come close to with other patients. What was a real phenomenon were the greatly accelerated reflexes, and of course the unique sensory data processing, through which Jared could consciously review input stream and use computerized data on a decision making level that neither of their previous subjects had ever been able to access. True, it was erratic, and often Jared had little or no control over the perception changes, but Jensen had already begun to develop techniques to alleviate the problem. He was quite confident he had come close to figuring out how the neuronal interfacing process worked. What he hadn’t been able to get one lick closer to was how it had happened in the first place, and it was frustrating him endlessly, because none of the tests they had come up with had yielded any more conclusive results. Jensen pondered the screen in front of him with a frown, then sighed deeply, and followed that by gripping the edges of the table with a white-knuckled grip. His ribs were healing nicely, or so Traci said, even though she gave him the stink-eye for not getting as much rest as he was supposed to. Still, they were not quite there yet. Jensen took it as a sign to finally call it a day and leave the musings for the morning.

~*~

Jensen was very satisfied with the results of the following day. They had kept the physical exercise to a minimum and gone over meditation techniques instead, as a way for Jared to learn how to deal with the overwhelming information influx of a sensory spike as well as foraying into bringing them about in a controlled and deliberate manner. He still griped and groaned all along the way, but Jensen felt that it was more of a coping mechanism than real discontent so let it pass or just joined in. Everyone in the team looked less apprehensive and rattled every day, not waiting for another catastrophic outburst at every turn, and Jensen counted that as a win concerning his handling of the situation. He still caught Chris throwing him looks sometimes, but his friend had accepted the truce and didn’t needle Jensen any further about his inappropriate feelings. Given the relative calmness of the waters, Jensen had no qualms about the upcoming status report.

Until he got a three star general on the line instead of Lt. Com. Morgan that is.

“Dr. Ackles, I assume you’re all well?”

“Certainly, General Hightower, as well as can be expected, I guess.”

“Yes, yes, the committee read the regular reports with great interest and were quite pleased that you were able to turn around the situation to a positive outcome. It would have been a great scientific loss indeed, had things gone… other ways.”

Jensen had never greatly appreciated the way higher military administrative officials phrased their way around actually saying that the shit had hit the fan and some serious mucking out had to be done, but he agreed amiably all the same. Still, he couldn’t help the sense of unease that settled in the pit of his stomach when he observed the expression on the sharp if considerably wrinkled face.

“I completely agree, and I’m very glad that we were able to resolve the incident without any harm done to either party. If you don’t mind me asking though, is there some urgent matter that required this kind of personal address from the committee chairman?”

The General’s stony features gave nothing away, neither divulging whether he’d been caught out or expected the inquiry.

“Oh, rest assured we’ve been quite pleased with the progress of the project so far, however, the committee feels that recent developments needed a more immediate approach to avoid clearance delays in furthering progress and giving you the opportunity to successfully complete your research.”

This particular phrasing served to make the hairs on Jensen’s neck stand on end.

“Tell me, are those extraordinary applications of your system viable for combat tactics, intel confirmation, infiltration, extraction and the like?”

Jensen knew full well that the General was quite aware of all the potential applications of Jared’s skills, once they were refined. What he really wanted to know was whether they could use him as a perfectly honed war machine. Jensen had been thinking about that for quite some time. Of course he had always known that most of the men and women he’d saved were released to go back into the service, but he had never closely examined how their abilities would change the dynamic of their teams, especially since they were not cleared to offer any information on their treatment here. For Jared though, it would be much more difficult, still, Jensen was obliged to grant full access and respond to any questions, so he couldn’t safely hold back what he knew.

“Sir, I believe with a certain amount of instruction and practice – pardon me when I say that we’re kind of figuring that out as we go along – the subject will be able to use the system to full capacity, which means enhanced physical strength, endurance and reflexes as well as way above average human sensory perception. I haven’t had the opportunity to assess the full range of tactical application, but I’m sure it will be enormous, once we get the fine-tuning under control that is.”

The general looked pleased, but also ponderous as he nodded and then went on:

“Very interesting. However, as scientifically productive as this... anomaly has proved to be, we understand that you are still unclear as to how exactly it came about, correct?”

“Yes, Sir, we’ve been gathering data through extensive testing, but so far, the actual mechanics or circumstances that caused this unique reaction remain quite elusive.”

“Have you tried every possible course of action to obtain those results?”

“Well, we have been developing new analytical scripts based on the original schematics of the system and are reviewing possible adjustments to our diagnostic equipment, but it’s going to take some time to work through all these and see if we get clearer results. I have discarded invasive testing of course, since it’s high risk procedure which is not indicated for our current status.”

Jensen decidedly didn’t like the way the general perked up at his last remark.

“How would you describe the odds of such a procedure yielding the aforementioned results?”

“I would call it at about 30 %, but as I said, that way would require deeply invasive surgery to recently traumatized and recovering areas of the brain and spinal column. There is at least an 80% chance that the procedure would disrupt or damage cerebral processes that are delicate under normal circumstances, but absolutely unpredictable in this case. Under the present circumstances I would strongly dissuade anyone from attempting such practices in consideration of the subject’s viability.”

“But such a procedure could in your opinion unearth the cause that you’ve been so diligently searching for.”

“Theoretically, yes, but the chances are very…”

Jensen felt a sudden coldness enter his limbs while rivulets of sweat ran down his back, and it was everything he could do to keep his face straight at what happened next.

“Dr. Ackles, you’ve hereby been granted authorization to exhaust any means in your capacity to extricate the required information for a full report.”

“But…”

“You’ve been given the green light, Dr. Ackles, and we expect the first conclusive results one week from now.”

All the blood drained from Jensen’s face in a dizzying rush as he stood there frozen, staring at the screen’s empty communication window, his mind racing with the implications of what had just been said.

They didn’t want him to enable Jared to go back into the service as a soldier with superior abilities. They wanted him to build them an army of his kind. At any price.

Jensen couldn’t have told how much time passed while he was standing pale and motionless in front of his workstation, but one thought looped in his mind again and again.

Then in a sudden flurry of activity his hands flew to the computer and after a few seconds the screen was empty no longer.

“I need your help.”

Chapter Seven