The Copy: Project 863

Is It Over?

(Ben's POV)

Nelson was driving Matt's car up to the S.P.I.R.E. Olivia and I were in the back. I suppose he didn't trust Olivia enough for her to be alone. We got there fairly soon. The ringing in my ear became deafening the closer we got. The entrance was a hatch in the ground, unlocked. We entered. 

The "control room" was small, the size of a New York apartment. Most of the room was occupied by shelves except for the far wall which displayed a giant computer setup. When we entered, Nelson set to turning the display on, and started typing. Olivia and I were left to guard. After a while I heard tires slowly rolling above us, Olivia seemed to hear it as well, but we didn't alert Nelson.

"Ben," he said suddenly,"I think we're ready. Go up to the surface and see if Subject 4 has solved the code. Also, deal with her." He turned his head toward Sam, who had managed to slip in through the hatch. I knew what he meant by "deal", and I hoped that Samantha did not come alone. Still, I followed her up the ladder. I could hear Sam trying to get the others to leave, but Woods would not relent. 

"Guys," she said sadly,"I think Olivia's down there." She never got to finish or explain because that's when I finally emerged from the hatch. Woods was closest, he looked, as always, like he wanted to kill me. Please let this work.

"We're out of cream in the break room." I said, starting the code we always used,"Would you prefer regular, or vanilla?"

They were silent for a moment, maybe they don't understand.

"Peppermint."

Hope. It was a dangerous thing, especially for someone who's been deprived of it for years. 

I pulled a notepad out of my pocket and wrote a few things down.

"Order confirmed." I climbed back down the hatch, keeping myself from grinning.

Deborah, you psychotic, manipulative, genius. Of course. Of course  you used those. When Wesley had the plan to disperse the newly developed antidote into the facility and the valley, he told me immediately. At this point I was just catching on to what Nelson was doing and what he truly was. I was also informed of the codes they were using concerning the S.P.I.R.E. As a security measure, there were new codes for each day. The word one would say to another would tell them which codes we were using for the day. Peppermint. I still remembered the codes, but I wasn't about to tell him that. 

"Well?" Nelson said when I walked to the display.

"They found two codes," it occurred to me for a second that they may have changed the codes or even lied to me, but I continued,"Peppermint, and Hazelnut."

"Hazelnut," he said with a slight glimmer of emotion,"a good friend." He turned to the display, typing something in.

Are you ready?

As ready as I can be. I'm gonna tell Matt.

Olivia had found she could talk to the actual Matt, in scatters and briefly, but it still worked.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"We own the future." I replied, quoting Syntec's memorable slogan.

"No, I own the future." And with that, he pressed the button.

Here goes nothing. 

The display lit up with alarming noises, all saying one thing:

Passive Mode Initiated

I bit my tongue to keep myself from laughing. Deborah hadn't changed the codes. And it took three people under mind control to stop him. I heard panic creep into his voice when he demanded to know why the computer wasn't responding to his will. He turned towards me, then Olivia with a slight laugh.