Second Chance Read online

Just then, a young man with a building badge approached from an area behind the desk and took a seat where the woman had been sitting only moments before.

  Krysta nodded at him and smiled. “Thank you, Harvey,” she said.

  “My pleasure, Ms. Peterson.”

  She looked back at me before giving us both a disarming wink. “Shall we?”

  Then she walked toward the elevator without waiting for a reply.

  2

  Eliza stepped inside the elevator and shot me a backwards glance. The meaning of her wordless gesture was clear. She was excited, but she recognized my hesitation.

  The slightest squint around her eyes silenced any protest I might have made.

  A promise was a promise.

  I let out another sigh and shook my head before following her lead. Roger had pulled some strings to get us here, but he and I both knew this wasn’t about me. This was for Helen and the kids.

  I had to give it to the man.

  He had class.

  Even at seventeen, Eliza was still young enough to have hope. She always seemed to see the best in everyone. While I had wracked myself over all the possible ulterior motives Roger might have had up his sleeve, she instantly clung to the idea that somehow Cyberternal Industries could do the impossible.

  In some respects, they already had. To say the creation of EndWorld Everlasting was revolutionary would be a gross understatement. It was a game-changer, literally.

  Beyond the metal exterior doors, the small chamber was made of glass. Afraid to look down, I stared up through the transparent ceiling. Small LED lights appeared to mark the stories within the elevator shaft, extending somewhere past the vertical horizon.

  The metal doors of the lobby swished closed, followed by a thin inner glass pane a few seconds later. I looked at the new front wall, then the sides, and finally caught Krysta’s eyes in the reflection. I raised my eyebrows.

  “No buttons, Mr. Wade,” she explained before her smile and the look in her eyes hinted at something almost sinister.

  The elevator plunged into the unknown without so much as a warning and my stomach lurched as we fell. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t keep myself from looking down. The same LED lights faded into oblivion, racing toward us as the transparent chamber sped through the darkness.

  Twenty.

  Thirty.

  Forty floors?

  My mind struggled to keep up while simultaneously wrestling with the utter impossibility of the plunge. I had been amazed that a city like Dallas could have such an extensive, interconnected underground when I’d first moved to the area for work. It made me wonder if something similar existed in other parts of the world. But this? This was something else.

  I was no geologist, but I hadn't thought something of this scale could be done in this area. I immediately pictured the shifting clay soil and low water tables I thought might have plagued the old underground.

  Even now I could remember how some sections had been closed off for years due to neglect.

  Or maybe it wasn’t neglect. Maybe it was this? The question threatened to dismantle everything I thought I knew about the city I'd worked in for years before getting sick.

  Eighty.

  One-hundred.

  One-twenty.

  Finally, the elevator slowed and came to an easy stop at sub-level 126. The pane slid back and another set of metal doors retracted into the wall-space.

  Eliza let out her held breath and clasped her shaking hands. “That. Was. Awesome,” she exclaimed.

  Krysta’s devilish smile did nothing to hide her pleasure.

  “Ms. Peterson?” I breathed.

  “Yes, Mr. Wade?”

  “That was pretty cool.” Then, after considering the show in the lobby, I added, “But was it real?”

  That same self-satisfied smile played about Krysta’s lips before she answered. “Unofficially?”

  “Sure.” I shrugged my indifference.

  Officially. Unofficially. It made no difference to me. We’d already signed full non-disclosure forms and, really, who was I going to tell?

  “It's the full one-hundred.” Krysta beamed.

  “That means it’s one-hundred percent real,” Eliza explained.

  I rolled my eyes and smiled at her helpful innocence. “I got that.” I laughed.

  Eliza frowned but when Krysta started laughing as well, she couldn’t help but join us.

  “This way,” Krysta said before leading us down a sterile-looking hallway.

  From the sparse out-of-date motivational posters framed on the otherwise barren walls to the perfectly polished floors, it was clear that sub-floor 126 didn’t get much in the way of human traffic.

  I almost reached out to pinch Krysta to see if she was real but managed to catch the impulse before it turned into action. For all I knew, the real Krysta could be sitting in the comfort of her office in one of the top floor suites.

  Wouldn’t that be a mind trip, two meat-suits following a cybernetic unit or a haptic-enabled hologram into the depths of the earth for a medical examination that could have been done over the phone with even the briefest review of my charts?

  “You undoubtedly have questions,” Krysta said, breaking into my chaotic stream of thoughts. “What lies ahead? Why this far underground? Why would Cyberternal Industries take an interest in your case or go to such lengths? What’s in it for us?”

  While all of those questions were fair assumptions for someone in her position, I felt conflicted as to whether I really wanted the answers she was offering. Really, what reasonable person wouldn’t want to know?

  It all seemed straight-forward enough, but I wasn’t here for any of it. Certainly not for a miracle cure. There was no real hope for that anymore. I was just a man spending one of the few remaining days he had on this world with his oldest daughter.

  The setting wasn’t perfect, and the activity probably less-so, but where else could Eliza begin her journey of coming to terms with my decision? What was left for a man like me?

  EndWorld?

  I wasn’t interested.

  Before I had a chance to protest, however; Krysta stopped and turned to face a recessed door in the side of the hallway. A gentle voice intoned, “Biometrics confirmed. Welcome, Krysta Peterson. I see you are accompanied by two guests. Please allow me a moment to verify access.”

  If the security system could be believed, it seemed Krysta really was here. In the flesh. I was suddenly very happy I hadn’t given in to the temptation to pinch her earlier.

  “Identity confirmed: Denton Wade and daughter, Eliza Wade. Access granted.”

  “Thank you, Miriam,” Krysta said and walked through the now-open doorway. Once inside, she turned and beckoned us forward.

  The immediate area inside the door was smaller than I expected. I crossed the threshold and my eyes were drawn toward a large, upright pod standing directly across from the entrance.

  Eliza turned to me and put a steadying hand on my shoulder, but I could see the fear in her eyes.

  “What’s with the pod?” Eliza turned and asked, speaking for both of us. “I thought this was just a medical evaluation.”

  It was in that moment that I realized how brave she must have been. Perhaps I was mistaken in my previous assumptions, superimposing on her my own childish hope when I was her age. In truth, I wasn’t certain how well I really knew my daughter. I thought I did, but things were slipping. Kids grew up so fast, especially in this crazy, new world.

  Maybe things weren’t that simple.

  She was becoming such a strong young woman, someone I was very proud of. But maybe she was both strong and blissfully hopeful; a complex creature built from her own unique experiences, and so much more than any one particular emotion.

  I put my arm around her neck and turned my gaze toward Krysta. Her eyes were soft and she had a sort of half-smile that said so much more than I expected from a complete stranger.

  Compassion.

  “As you must know, Mr. Wade, traditional medical procedures are out of the question for someone in your… situation.”

  “Daddy,” Eliza said. “Daddy?”

  I bit my lip and nodded. “That’s right.”

  It was the best answer I could give. It killed me to break it down to the cold, hard truth in front of Eliza, but if she didn’t know by now, maybe it was time to fess up.

  “And yet you’re here,” Krysta went on. “Roger has informed me that you have some reservations toward the idea of what EndWorld represents. Is that correct?”

  “To put it lightly,” I admitted.

  Krysta nodded.

  “What you see before you isn’t a standard immersion pod. As you can probably tell, there’s something a bit different about this one. We’ve been experimenting with a new technological breakthrough. It’s truly the stuff of science fiction.

  “We’ve already been able to achieve incredible things, things not yet thought possible by the medical community at-large. With the aid of Artificial Intelligence and our patented nano-helpers, we’ve been quietly saving lives while the rest of the world struggles with accepting the existence of sentient machines.”

  “You aren’t planning on turning me into a machine, are you?” I asked. “That doesn’t even come close to what I signed up for.”

  My arm was still around Eliza’s shoulders and her grip on my wrist tightened.

  “Of course not.” Krysta laughed. “If you choose to move forward with this, your physicians will be the sentient machines,” she said. “Millions of them, coursing through your bloodstream to attack the cancer at the source. Actively rewriting the DNA code to eradicate the mutations and put your body back on track one sequence at a time.”

  “You’re right,” I agreed. “That is some serious science fiction shit.”

  “Dad,” Eliza exclaimed in classic teenage fashion, then let out an embarrassed giggle.

  Krysta smiled before continuing.

  “That said, you must understand, nothing is guaranteed. We’ve made incredible breakthroughs, but we’re not quite there yet. There are still some things even the machines aren’t capable of fixing. Maybe some day. They’re learning at an incredible rate, doing things I never would have dreamed. But, as always, we have to take things one step at a time.”

  “You’re saying there’s a chance you might be able to save my dad?” Eliza asked, her jaw now firm.

  “I’m not in a position to make promises,” Krysta answered. “But, yes, there is a chance.”

  3

  “Daddy, you have to do this,” Eliza breathed, stepping out from under my arm and turning to look me square in the eyes. She had her mother’s determination. “There’s no question about it. You have to.”

  Krysta’s intense gaze softened, and her eager smile faded slightly, vanquishing any doubt I might have had. There was no denying it, she’d seen this play out a few times before.

  “Let’s slow down for a moment,” Krysta said, putting a gentle hand on Eliza’s shoulder. “You have to understand, this might be a lot for your dad to process all at once.”

  “You’re offering him a new lease on life. What could he possibly need to process? It’s a no-brainer.”

  Krysta offered a sympathetic smile and took a step backward.

  “Say yes, Daddy.”

  I couldn’t bring myself to look at her. Not yet. There was so much to consider.

  “Say yes.”

  I stared straight ahead, allowing my eyes to drift in and out of focus as I looked at the pod. It had a red glass front that wasn’t quite see-through and an alarming number of tubes that trailed up into the high ceiling. I wondered what millions of nano-helpers looked like.

  Would I feel them in my veins?

  Would they slip through my bloodstream like quicksilver on their quest to hunt and kill my offending cells? What would fill the space where the tumors had been? I had so many questions, but lacked the fortitude to ask.

  Eliza’s fingers intertwined with mine and when I looked down, our eyes met.

  “Dad?”

  “It’s common in situations like this,” Krysta explained, “for our potential patients to take a little time to come to terms with other, unexpected options. You have to understand, your father probably started his grieving process months ago.”

  “I don’t understand. What difference would that make?”

  “You’d be surprised. The process of letting go is a spiritual one for many people. Not everyone who’s entered this room has opted to undergo the procedure, though all have been equally vetted. There are different reasons, of course.”

  “Like what?” Eliza pressed.

  “Some considered the odds and even the slightest chance of failure was too much to bear,” Krysa went on.

  “Some held tight to their fear of the machines, even in the face of salvation. Some had simply let go of their desire to fight. They had already progressed too far through the stages of grief.”

  “You mean they chose to just… to just die?” Eliza asked, sounding small.

  “While no two people who have crossed this threshold have been the same, one thing remains a constant similarity: they are all very complex creatures with their own unique versions of logic and reason,” Krysta said.

  “Why are the machines sentient?” I asked, hoping to take away some of the pressure to keep fighting Eliza must have been feeling. “Wouldn’t simple, directed nano-tech be sufficient?”

  “I think you already know the answer to that question, Mr. Wade,” Krysta answered. “Directed technology can’t save you because we lack the ability to assess and act with the speed and precision with which these machines can. With the speed the cancer took hold, we’re looking at a very complex series of procedures and gene therapy. It’s beyond current human capabilities.”

  “But they’re not perfect. The machines. They can make mistakes?”

  Krysta remained silent, allowing me time to process.

  “Why?” I asked. “Why would Cyberternal Industries, the makers of EndWorld, be concerned with this?”

  “Saving lives, you mean?” Krysta asked.

  “Underground operating rooms. Scary looking medical pods. Tiny sentient robot doctors? All of those would work, but sure. Let’s go with saving lives.”

  “Do you know why our company was founded?”

  I shook my head and shrugged. “The same reason as any other company, I imagine.”

  “Well, yes. And also, no,” Krysta said. “You won’t see it in any of the advertisements, but Cyberternal Industries was born from a father’s love for his dying son.”

  “How so?” I asked, allowing myself to take the obvious bait.

  “Even with the rate technology has grown and the boom we’ve seen in the past few years, especially in the Biotech industries, our founder and CEO was unable to save his only child. Instead, he was forced to watch him waste away as the disease ran its course.”

  She paused a moment before continuing.

  “No matter what he tried, he couldn’t change the reality of this world. So, he had a vision to create a new one. One where his son and countless others could have a second chance to live. That was how EndWorld was born, but the focus has always been here. Secretly, we’ve always been about saving lives so that other families don’t have to watch as their loved ones are taken from them before their time.”

  Silent tears fell down Eliza’s cheeks as she turned from Krysta to look at me once again.

  I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding, then I looked from Eliza to the machine and back again.

  “What if it doesn’t work?” I asked.

  “I’d rather take the risk.” Her voice was quiet and small. “And even though I don’t understand your hesitation, I love you. That won’t change, no matter what you decide.” She wrapped her arms around me and sobbed into my chest.

  I reached up and put my hand on her head, doing my best to comfort her. Then I looked at Krysta and nodded. “I’ll do it.”

  “Great,” Krysta said with what appeared to be a genuine smile. “If you’re prepared to undergo the first of your procedures this afternoon, we’re all ready on this side.”

  I stared at her in blank confusion for what felt like an eternity before Eliza gave voice to what we were both thinking.

  “What? You mean today, right now? Just like that?”

  “Yes. Miriam is our resident AI for this project. She keeps the lab space ready to go at a moment’s notice. In cases like your father’s we find it’s best to get started right away, unless the patient objects.”

  Eliza turned and looked at me. “What do you think?”

  “I haven’t made any arrangements,” I managed to stammer, still unsure about the sudden decision I was being thrust into.

  “Roger has taken the liberty of personally seeing to all of your immediate obligations,” Krysta said, adding a little blush to her smile. “We don’t usually take such a hands-on approach to this but, for Roger, your case hit close to home.”

  I was floored by the continued revelations of what this man had done, not only for me but also for my children. Drawing in a deep breath, I silently resolved to thank him for the opportunity the next time I saw him. Then I exhaled and closed my eyes.

  I focused only on the sound of my heartbeat thrumming in my ears and did my best to let go of any feeling of resistance or hesitation. When I opened my eyes again, Krysta and Eliza were still patiently waiting for my answer.

  I nodded again.

  “I think I’m ready.”

  I sniffed and took a second to stretch my neck. The pod enclosure was a bit roomier than I’d expected, but my limbs were all secured in place, and tubes disappeared into the flesh of my arms and legs.

  Through a thick sheet of protective glass, I could see an image of Krysta and Eliza. They were both sitting in a separate room, but the image was crisp and clear.

  Even though they were staring back at me from a screen built seamlessly into the thick pane, I felt as if I could reach out and touch them. And yet, logically, I knew it was an illusion.

  “What is real?” I whispered the words and allowed myself the pleasure of a mischievous grin.