Eric and the Quantum Dragon

Little Angels Orphanage, District Eight

Wednesday December 19th, V26 (2046)

It was early in the evening when Eric ride his motorbike into the parking lot of the Orphanage. He had heard of the place before yet this was his first visit in person. The lot was empty other than his solitary bike, so he parked it as close to the main entrance as he dared.

From the outside the facility looked quite large, a number of big buildings sprawling over the grounds, with gardens and playing fields visible beyond the mesh fencing. It had an air of quiet grandeur, the buildings made to look like copies of old stone and tile structures from Europe.

Despite the old world appearance, he detected a number of cameras monitoring his arrival and idly wondered if there were any booby traps or automated weapons waiting to be activated. Hopefully not on him, as he certainly came here on a peaceful mission this evening.

Leaving his bike helmet locked to the handlebars, Eric strode confidently up to the big wooden doors that led to the lobby. He had barely stopped in front of them when one half opened, revealing an elderly Sister in a black habit and an even blacker expression on her face.

“Visiting hours are over” she declared. “Come back tomorrow” and went to shut the door once more.

“I’m here to see Sister Adoracion!” he blurted out and the door stopped its closing with a bare sliver of the woman still visible.

“She’s busy” muttered the Sister and the door commenced closing again when the sounds of argument could be heard from within. The heavy door thudded close and Eric stood there with a perplexed look on his face.

He reached forward and pressed the doorbell mounted to one side of the entryway. In the distance he could hear a chiming sound, muffled by the thick doors. Suddenly the door was flung open and another Sister stood there, dressed like the first but with a much more welcoming expression on her darker toned face.

“Good evening, Eric, I am Sister Adoracion” she announced. “Please come in!” The woman stepped back and beckoned him inside, so he walked into the lobby. The room had an old fashioned wooden staircase leading up to another floor at his left and on the right were a set of wooden double doors, currently closed.

The room was furnished with worn but expensive looking chairs and couches and behind one of those stood the first Sister, glowering at Eric like he was the Devil himself.

“Sister Agatha, please prepare some tea and biscuits for our guest” Sister Adoracion commanded and with a faint huff of disapproval the other Sister departed, leaving by another set of doors Eric had not noticed. There was a brief glimpse of a larger room with children and older ones in there before the doors closed once more.

Sister Adoracion led him up the stairs and down a short corridor, ending their journey in a room lined with bookshelves containing actual paper books. An imposing wing backed chair sat on one side of a huge wooden desk and some smaller chairs faced it. Once the Sister had seated herself in the larger chair, Eric sat opposite her and wondered how to begin.

“It must be hard to know where to start, Master Hargreaves” the Sister pre-empted him. “I am sure you have a lot of questions about your family and their ties to this institution”

“Actually, I had no idea this place had any connection to me at all” Eric confessed. “I came here because Sister Impassionata recommended it. She indicated there were secrets here that I needed to know but it was not her place to reveal them”

“I see” said Adoracion with a smile. “You have met Nata and she pointed you here. I must have a word with my old pupil about her methods. She is far too impulsive for her own good”

“The Imp is a menace, I’ve always said so” Sister Agatha butted in, shouldering the door open to deliver a tray with a silver teapot, two fine China cups and a tray of rather sad looking plain biscuits. She deposited the tray on the table and made to pour the tea when Adoracion coughed in a pointed manner. With a scowl at Eric the Sister nodded at her superior and departed the room, banging the door closed with more force than was necessary.

“Sister Agatha always dreamed of becoming a Hunter for the Order” Adoracion said by way of explanation. “Sadly she was full of the required aggression but lacking in the combat skills. She serves in the Orphanage’s Armoury but finds the role lacks the excitement she always craved”

Eric dearly wanted to ask why the Orphanage had an Armoury, but instead asked a more pressing question.

“What ties does my family have to this place? In fact, what family are you referring to?”

Sister Adoracion regarded him in some confusion.

“Has Mr Jericho not explained what you are?” she queried.

“I’m a clone, an immature form of the Avatar clones used by the Jericho’s” he answered. “I have no illusions about being a human being, Sister. I know I was created and grown in a laboratory just like them”

“That is true and I never doubted you knew that also” the Sister agreed. She paused, obviously trying to think of a way of discussing a delicate matter she was not certain she should. “Okay, you know that the Jericho clones were a kind of test run for the Guard clones, a proof that an organism could be artificially grown with cybernetic implants in their bodies and brains”

“Of course” Eric responded impatiently.”They were successful and the Archimedes AI decided to use the original clone batch as his Avatars. That is where my older brothers One, Two and Three came from”

“Yes. But do you know where the original genetic material came from to make those clones?”

“From a blend of donors, tailored and modified to give a final gene code, stable enough to reproduce without mutation”

“That is what they did for the Guard clones, that is true” Adoracion replied. “But the Jericho clones only had two donors for their gene code, the researchers who pioneered the technology”

Eric felt a chill run down his spine and wondered why Two had never told him this.

“Who were they?” he demanded.

“Alexander and Camelia Hargreaves. They were a husband and wife team who revolutionised the world with their work on genetics and cloning techniques”

A gulf appeared beneath him, a dark void into which he felt he might fall and never be found again.

“Do you mean that I had actual parents, a man and woman who combined their genetic code to make me? Where are they now?”

“I’m sorry Eric, they have been gone for over sixteen years. They died in a terrorist bombing of their research laboratory”

Eric folded in over himself, letting out a wordless cry of pain. He remained hunched over like that for a time, shaking silently while Sister Adoracion looked on helplessly.

“I’m so sorry Eric. Your brothers all know this story and I thought you should too”

The boy lifted his eyes to the older woman and she suddenly wished she had never told him this secret. He had discovered a family he had never known that was lost to him before he was created.

Suddenly Eric stood and faced the Sister, his face hard and cold.

“Thank you for the tea, Sister” he said formally and marched quickly from the room. Adoracion could only watch him go, realising she had missed the chance to tell him about his sister, the biological child of Alexander and Camelia. Perhaps it was for the best she reasoned to herself.

=====

Eric came down the staircase rapidly, his booted feet thumping loudly on the polished wooden steps. Sister Agatha looked up at him, smiling wickedly as he descended.

“Ah, so you are going to take the brat away at last?” she demanded.

The boy stopped suddenly and regarded the old Sister in shocked surprise.

“Which one are you referring to?” Eric hedged, tried to comprehend what Sister Agatha was telling him.

“That troublemaker your brother dumped on us, the girl in the garden” Agatha answered, jerking her thumb in the direction of the outdoor gardens.

“Show me!” Eric shouted and the Sister recoiled from his expression. Meekly she turned and led him through double doors that took them into a Reception room for potential parents. Beyond big glass doors could be seen a garden, lit by intermittent lights now that the sun had set.

“She’s hiding out there” Agatha said and pointed to an Arbor, a covered seating area at one side of the flower filled garden. Eric rushed to the doors and flung them open, dashing headlong across the paved paths to the shadowed spot she had indicated.

“Hello?” he said as he entered, his eyes scanning the dark enclosure. There was no one to be seen on the padded seat and he was about to leave when a voice spoke to him.

“Don’t turn around, Eric” a girl’s voice demanded so he stilled himself and stood passively, wondering who she was. “Why did you come here? How did you find out about me?”

“I never knew you were here” he answered honestly. “I don’t even know who you are. All I know is my brother Jericho-Two brought you here”

“So you haven’t come to rescue me from this place?” the girl asked him.

“Do you need me to rescue you?” Eric responded.

“No, I can save myself” she said. Eric felt the air move a little as she came up close behind him. The urge to turn around was almost overwhelming, yet he fought it down ruthlessly. Somehow he knew that if he rushed things now, this mysterious girl would flee from him.

“Who are you?” he asked her.

“Nobody of interest” she answered flatly. A hand reached out and stroked his hair, making him realise the girl must be close to his own height. He stayed still, letting the firm hand run over his head. “Your hair is softer than I imagined” she told him and he reached up slowly to grasp her hand with his own.

“Is my hand as soft as you imagined too?” he asked with a quiet laugh.

“No, it’s as hard as a rock” she told him and pulled her own free of his grip. He heard her take a step backwards, the air cooler against his back once again. “Don’t come here again looking for me. There is nothing here for you”

“Wait!” Eric cried but there was no answer. He turned and knew she was gone, swift and silent like he had expected. He examined his hand in the light spilling in from outside, recalling the firm fingers of the girl, so similar to his own. Her skin had been warmer too and Eric knew with certainty it was not because the girl was feverish.

Whoever she was, she had to be a clone like him. Augmented and Enhanced he decided, but not an Avatar like he was. He had checked when he held her hand and there was no connection to the Quantum Network in the vicinity, no shining light in the Archimedes Network to reveal her presence.

There was no doubt she was the person that Nata had expected to find in the Brackenridge warehouse. A trained Agent of some kind, but why was she here at the Orphanage? Eric had no answer to that so he let it go for the moment.

She knew who he was, so he would leave it up to her if she wanted to contact him. He located a door she must have entered the building through and found himself in a large common space. It was filled with dozens of children of all ages from toddlers to near adults, sitting at tables or lying on couches, playing games and watching big TV screens. In one corner sat another Christmas tree, this one towering a good three meters to touch the ceiling and festooned with tinsel, baubles and hand made decorations.

Every single eye was on him, so he waved and smiled, earning a few in return. Looking around there was no way to be sure who the girl was since there were many potential candidates watching him.

A notice board caught his eye with a space to write messages so he strode confidently over to that, smiling widely at the small children who followed in his wake. Some black garbed Sisters were in here too, watching him alertly so he gave them a cheery smile as well.

Taking up a handy marker pen, he wrote his personal phone number on the board. That done, he faced the room and made an announcement.

“Good evening to you all. My name is Eric Hargreaves and that is my personal contact number. If ‘Nobody of Interest’ wants to get in touch, I’ll be happy to speak with them”

With that, Eric saw the double doors he had seen from the lobby and went out through them, leaving a hubbub of excited noise in his wake. Adoracion and Agatha were waiting for him, a look of concern on the former and the latter smugly pleased with herself.

“Did you meet her?” Adoracion asked him. He shook his head in the negative.

“Not really. I don’t think she was ready to see me face to face. She wouldn’t even tell me her name”

Eric thought for a moment then addressed Adoracion again.

“Sister, I always thought my name was just some cover that Two dreamed up. But he gave me that name for a reason, didn’t he?”

“I believe so, Eric. I think he always wanted you to be a human first, not just an Avatar” She stopped for a pause then came forward and gripped his hand. Her hands were gentle, calluses formed from years of hard work somewhere rubbing against his own augmented fingers.

“I am sorry to have caused you pain, Eric. There are still secrets I can’t tell you, but I hope I can one day. You deserve to know the truth”

“I appreciate that Sister. Thank you for your help”

With that he left by the big wooden doors and vanished into the night.

=====

There were a number of girls already taking photos of Eric’s number or jotting it down on their hands by the time Seven pushed her way to the front. She glanced at the number written there then angrily wiped the board clean with the sleeve of her jumper.

She ignored the outraged cries from the ones who had not a chance to note it down yet and shouldered her way clear.

“Not going to write his number down, Selena?” asked Sister Adoracion who had just entered the common room.

“There is no need, Sister” she answered. “I remember everything”

=====

It was later that night as she lay in her bed that she held her hand up in front of her face, barely visible in the faint glow coming past a gap in the window curtains. She remembered the feel of Eric’s hair between her fingers, the strength of his hand when he gripped hers.

“If I call it off now, it won’t be too late” she whispered to herself. Across the shared bedroom, Jenny her roommate stirred in her sleep then settled into a deeper state. “He came for me, he found me here. We can be together after all”

Deep inside of her, the emptiness stirred to wakefulness.

“Don’t lose heart now” Nothing spoke to her. “If you go to him like this he will reject you. With my help you can be part of the Quantum Network, you can be whole again. Eric will be yours and yours alone once we control Archimedes”

“But he was so close, I could touch him” Seven told the empty darkness inside of her.

“Without my help, you can never join him in the Quantum realm. You will always be apart” the hollow void told her. “Follow our plan, do as we agreed, and I promise Eric will be yours”

Seven was not gullible, she knew the Nothing would lie to get what it needed from her. Yet it offered her the only chance she could see to have her connection to the network repaired.

“I understand” she spoke to the night and let herself finally drift into sleep.