the room off by the door. There was still light from the hall, but enough to see Tom’s pupils. They widened in the dark, rather than narrowing from the light outside.
‘Now you’re just being an arsehole,’ said Tom wearily.
‘Set him free, Sam,’ said Marie.
Samson smiled without warmth and released the netting.
‘I’m glad you’re alright,’ said Marie. ‘I’m glad I didn’t have to kill you.’
‘So am I. Now, would somebody fill me in on what’s happening?’
Samson and Marie shared a look. Tom didn’t like what he saw in their eyes.
They were worried.
Whatever it was, if it worried Sam and Marie, they were in some serious trouble.
‘Go and take a shower,’ Marie told him, ignoring his question. ‘We’re meeting in the dining hall at thirteen hundred. We’ll catch up then.’
Tom stretched, holding onto Marie for support. His legs were killing him. He was too old to spend the night sleeping on cold floors. Too old for lots of things.
Too old to go on living? He wondered. He’d had all night to think about it. The only conclusion he’d come to was that he wasn’t sure. But he knew one thing for a fact, and it had nothing to do with ego. These people still weren’t ready to face the future without him. He’d been telling himself the same thing every morning for more years than he could remember. Today was no different. Dying could wait another day.
*
Chapter Sixteen
Fallon Corp.
Dining Hall
Level 2
All eyes turned to watch as Jean wheeled his chair to the top of the room. Rumour was rife. People knew bad news was coming.
Jean took the centre. To his right were Kappa and Samson, the military arm of the complex. To his left Sarah Chevalier and Benjamin Carpenter, the two heads of the science department.
Tom Fallon felt a little sorry for Sarah and Ben. The warriors got all the glory, while the scientists laboured away below ground, never allowed out because they were too valuable.
Tom was a scientist, but he was allowed topside. He could do what he wanted. He was afforded special status. No one liked him, but he kind of owned the building.
He’d inherited it from his father.
Nepotism at work through the ages.
His father’s company, Fallon Corp., had made huge advances in cybernetics, age reversal, immunised millions on the African continent from Malaria. They had eradicated the common cold, used nanotechnology to clear arteries in heart patients and fight tumours. By the time of the fall the technology was still too expensive for most, but it had begun to become commonplace. People’s life expectancy had gone up significantly.
There was plenty of less savoury research, but Tom hadn’t been a party to that. The company had made the bulk of its money from Biological Weapons and standard Weapons research.
Tom had always justified it in the context of the greater good. The big money items funded by military budgets allowed the advances in medical science.
Fallon Corp helped people to live longer by finding innovative ways to kill them.
With survival rates for cancer patients predicted to reach 75% for up to twenty years, the gradual eradication of heart disease, reduction on reliance on invasive surgical procedures, even the end of infections with booster technology for the body’s own immune systems…
If it hadn’t been the cure, Tom wondered if society would have just imploded anyway. People shouldn’t live forever.
Jean rapped on the table and everyone present turned from their own thoughts to the matter at hand.
‘Thank you all for coming. There have been some significant developments in the night and we must decide on a course of action.
‘Last night the vampires laid a trap for us.’ He held his hand up, but the room was in uproar. He was forced to shout to be heard. ‘Settle down! There’s more you need to hear!’ The noise gradually settled to murmurs.
Tom looked around. He didn’t like what he saw.
Not the
‘Now you’re just being an arsehole,’ said Tom wearily.
‘Set him free, Sam,’ said Marie.
Samson smiled without warmth and released the netting.
‘I’m glad you’re alright,’ said Marie. ‘I’m glad I didn’t have to kill you.’
‘So am I. Now, would somebody fill me in on what’s happening?’
Samson and Marie shared a look. Tom didn’t like what he saw in their eyes.
They were worried.
Whatever it was, if it worried Sam and Marie, they were in some serious trouble.
‘Go and take a shower,’ Marie told him, ignoring his question. ‘We’re meeting in the dining hall at thirteen hundred. We’ll catch up then.’
Tom stretched, holding onto Marie for support. His legs were killing him. He was too old to spend the night sleeping on cold floors. Too old for lots of things.
Too old to go on living? He wondered. He’d had all night to think about it. The only conclusion he’d come to was that he wasn’t sure. But he knew one thing for a fact, and it had nothing to do with ego. These people still weren’t ready to face the future without him. He’d been telling himself the same thing every morning for more years than he could remember. Today was no different. Dying could wait another day.
*
Chapter Sixteen
Fallon Corp.
Dining Hall
Level 2
All eyes turned to watch as Jean wheeled his chair to the top of the room. Rumour was rife. People knew bad news was coming.
Jean took the centre. To his right were Kappa and Samson, the military arm of the complex. To his left Sarah Chevalier and Benjamin Carpenter, the two heads of the science department.
Tom Fallon felt a little sorry for Sarah and Ben. The warriors got all the glory, while the scientists laboured away below ground, never allowed out because they were too valuable.
Tom was a scientist, but he was allowed topside. He could do what he wanted. He was afforded special status. No one liked him, but he kind of owned the building.
He’d inherited it from his father.
Nepotism at work through the ages.
His father’s company, Fallon Corp., had made huge advances in cybernetics, age reversal, immunised millions on the African continent from Malaria. They had eradicated the common cold, used nanotechnology to clear arteries in heart patients and fight tumours. By the time of the fall the technology was still too expensive for most, but it had begun to become commonplace. People’s life expectancy had gone up significantly.
There was plenty of less savoury research, but Tom hadn’t been a party to that. The company had made the bulk of its money from Biological Weapons and standard Weapons research.
Tom had always justified it in the context of the greater good. The big money items funded by military budgets allowed the advances in medical science.
Fallon Corp helped people to live longer by finding innovative ways to kill them.
With survival rates for cancer patients predicted to reach 75% for up to twenty years, the gradual eradication of heart disease, reduction on reliance on invasive surgical procedures, even the end of infections with booster technology for the body’s own immune systems…
If it hadn’t been the cure, Tom wondered if society would have just imploded anyway. People shouldn’t live forever.
Jean rapped on the table and everyone present turned from their own thoughts to the matter at hand.
‘Thank you all for coming. There have been some significant developments in the night and we must decide on a course of action.
‘Last night the vampires laid a trap for us.’ He held his hand up, but the room was in uproar. He was forced to shout to be heard. ‘Settle down! There’s more you need to hear!’ The noise gradually settled to murmurs.
Tom looked around. He didn’t like what he saw.
Not the
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