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Subject: chapter 1


Author:
S.B.
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Date Posted: Tuesday, June 29, 12:30:08pm
In reply to: S.B. 's message, "The Progeny of Four" on Tuesday, June 29, 02:58:59am

The Progeny of Four




It was 4:02 a.m. when Madeline entered Section. She savored the isolation of the early hour; the halls were quiet, dimly lit, and the air cold and undisturbed. The only sound was the quiet clicking of her heels as she made her way to her office.

As she walked she reviewed in her mind the list of tasks on her list for that day. At the top of the list was a meeting with Michael. His performance on the Vachek mission of late was deteriorating – it had been ever since Simone’s death - and Operations was beginning to lose patience with the situation.

Michael was caught between the two worlds he’d had to live in for the past year and a half. When Simone was alive it had been a fairly easy task to remind him which of the two worlds was real and which wasn’t. But now that she was gone it appeared that Michael was becoming confused, his loyalty subtly shifting away from Section, and that simply couldn’t be allowed. The solution was simple; she had to find someone to replace Simone’s role in Michael’s life.

The search had not been easy. There were any number of female operatives, and a few male ones too, who were more than willing to replace Simone in Michael’s life. Bringing in someone from outside of Section would take too much time and there was still no guarantee that Michael would become emotionally attached to that person. It hadn’t been until Madeline spent an hour trolling through Michael’s extensive file that she’d suddenly remembered the experiment he’d been assigned nine years earlier and the answer to her search began to form with great clarity in her mind.

The timing was perfect. Providing the girl had survived, and Madeline was fairly certain she would have been informed if the girl hadn’t, she would be the perfect link to Section that would reel Michael back in from the Vachek mission. The girl wouldn’t remember him but Madeline was certain Michael would remember her. Though their contact had lasted only a few months the girl’s effect on Michael had been indelible. Actually, Madeline mused, a ghost of a smile appearing in her eyes, perhaps it wasn’t the girl herself but the situation she was in that had left the lasting mark on Michael. She dared say that Michael learned from that little experience that Section would stop at nothing to achieve its goal.

**

Two time zones away Sir Philip Baines stood in his darkened office and stared out his window. A weary frown tugged at the corners of his mouth. The silver-handled cane he leaned heavily upon was a new accessory to his wardrobe, one that he’d prefer to do without, but it seemed that his aging body disagreed with him.

Despite his physician’s optimistic outlook Philip was not taking any chances. He’d devoted his life to this work, made too many sacrifices to ever let the Sections fall into the wrong hands, the type of sacrifices that filled him with lonely regret in the odd moments that he allowed his mind to wander and left him wondering at times if there remained in him any trace of the man he’d once been.

Philip gave a small self-depreciating laugh, barely audible in the silent room. It was in these early hours that his demons were most active. They drove him from his bed with nightmares of what would happen if he failed to find a successor soon. Turning away from the window he made his way slowly over to his desk and sat down.

Never a man to leave things to chance he had long ago faced the certainty of his own mortality and began planning accordingly. Unlike Adrienne, who had believed Section’s scope should remain sharply limited and its need eventually eliminated, Philip believed the very opposite. As long as there was power to be gained and riches to be made there would always be conflict in the world, if not from opposing countries then from groups of individuals who would stop at nothing to get what they wanted. They would be the new enemy of the free world, and as new international treaties would legally limit the capability of governments to go after these individuals the need for an organization such as Section would only increase with time.

The years unfortunately, Philip sighed unhappily, had proven him right. Now there were five Sections spread over four geographical areas; Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Asia and Indonesia, North and South America. Section Four was a special unit devoted strictly to research that was overseen directly by Philip.

As he sat at his desk Philip leaned back and closed his eyes for a brief moment. Section Four –and Ocatvian— had been the means to his salvation. One had given him twenty years ago what was then the impossible, the capabilitly to create a progeny of hope. The other, Philips greatest technological success, had provided him the answer to which of his creations would one day soon become his heir.

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Replies:
Subject Author Date
Hey, great to see you here!JayBeeTuesday, June 29, 01:31:10pm
Oh goody. Another new story. Can't wait for more. (NT)DarleneTuesday, June 29, 04:17:34pm


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