Out of Time

Jackson

When we get to the plane Jackson is making no sense, he is still in a very unwell state and is looking around the lab for something, "Jackson, honey, what are you looking for?"

"Tracking chip."

I shake my head and sigh softly as Mitch walks in, "what the hell are you talking about," as Mitch walks up Jackson injects himself with a tracker. "What are you doing?"

"Now you don't have to worry about me wandering off again."

I shake my head, "oh, so you think a tracking chip..."

"A poorly placed one, I might add," Mitch comments, annoyed.

"Thank you, Mitch..." I snap at Mitch, before continuing, "you think a tracking chip is gonna keep me from worrying."

"Guys, it's been a long night, okay?" Jackson starts to walk off.

As I step to follow him, Mitch sighs pulling out a notebook Jackson had been writing in, "need you two to look at this."

Jackson scoffs as he looks down at it, "what, so you can just rub it in my face that I'm losing my mind? You don't have to, Mitch, I'm aware."

"Oh, I don't think you're losing your mind. In fact, I think we might have found something in your mind."

I shake my head, "what are you talking about?"

"I think what happened tonight is some kind of dissociative fugue, and it... it may have erased some recent memories, but I think it may have surfaced some other, more remote ones. 'All Good Children Are Growing Teeth.' All three of us know that's a mnemonic. It's a genetic sequence. That's not just any genetic sequence. That's the first six nucleotides of the ghost gene. And you're gonna tell me the rest," Mitch points to Jackson.

"Uh I... I... I don't know it," Jackson shakes his head.

"Oh, come on. You've seen this before. Okay? Your dad was neck deep in this stuff. Maybe, maybe he knew it, maybe he showed it to you. But when we were talking earlier, about the gene, that triggered something, some kind of memory."

"Whatever it triggered is gone. If the animals have the ghost gene and so do I, why don't you just get it from my DNA?"

"Yeah, well, I'm trying. But the human genome contains about three billion base pairs and upwards of 30,000 genes. And with your bonus helix, that makes it a lot more. Okay? I'm running sequencing software around the clock, but we are running out of time."

I lean against the nearby desk, "well, what happens if you can't find it?"

"The cure's like a bomb. One that's gonna nuke the Triple-Helix. Okay? And the sequence is like an address. If I don't have that address, I have no idea where to deliver the bomb."

"So without the sequence, the cure's useless."

Mitch nods and puts his arms out as Abe walks in, "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah,"

"No" Mitch and Jackson answer simultaneously. Mitch takes a deep breath and turns to Jackson, "You're the only one who can help me with this."

Jackson nods, "you know what, Abe? We're gonna we're gonna hang back."

"Is everything okay?"

"Peachy," I comment rubbing my forehead.

Mitch nods, "yeah, it'll be even peachier once you get to Pierce's and find that list of animals."

"Okay..." Abe looks between the three of us before he takes his leave.