Brand New Day - Chapter 30

Part XVII

Chapter 30:

I was still in this barn with Jones for about a day, but I wasn’t completely sure. But I had been going through plans like crazy in my head, deciding which would be the best approach on getting out of here.

Meanwhile Jones had been getting phone calls on the progress of Sara and Lydia was the one talking to him.

Uh, I still cannot believe she would do that, but this was miserable. For all I knew what Jones was hearing was true; that Sara really is becoming part of their army thing.

About 2 hours later Jones received another call, “…yep, I will get on that…” He turned to me after the conversation was over, “well get ready, because we are leaving.”

“Where are we going?” I tried not to sound too enthused.

“We are going to some where very important, but you will be asleep for the ride.”

“Wait…what…uh…” I managed to get out right before he walked over to me and shoved a needle in my arm.

When I awoke, I was back in that same conference room I was in the first time I came to Portland.

I hoped this was where they brought Sara, because then they would have taken care of the step of having to find her.

The room had the bid oak table and about 30 chairs surrounding it. Behind me were two large windows overlooking downtown Portland. There were no pictures or anything on the walls, so it was a pretty boring place, if I do say so myself.

My arms were tied to the armrests of the chair I was in. I at least could move my legs, but that wouldn’t help too much.

A few minutes later Jones stepped in, “well good to see you’re awake. Now look sharp, because you have some visitors.”

In walked my parents, Perry, Lydia and her parents.

“Hi sweetie,” my mom said ever so sweetly.

But I had that bad feeling again.

“What is going on?” I demanded.

“Don’t worry, we are getting to that. Rose and Roger would you like to begin?” Perry asked.

“Of course,” my mom said, “well should I start from the beginning? First let me say something,” she looked at me, “Robert I wish you would embrace what the R.F.I. and AMICAL are trying to do, it is for the greater good.”

I said nothing to this.

“Okay well we should tell you the truth then. We have been preparing you for this since you were about nine months old and you were supposed to come here when you turned 18, but they knew you would struggle. So that is why we will do it by force instead. We are not trying to hurt you or anyone for that matter, unless they try to stop us. All we want is a better society.”

“And how do you do this?” I questioned, very nervously.

“It is very simple sweetheart, there is no pain, just a quick upgrade of your chip and you will be ready.”

“Upgrade?”

My dad answered this one, “when we got you, we went straight to The Facility and had them prepare you by putting a chip in your neck. But after so many years, it isn’t where we need it, so we have to upgrade it.”

I grazed my neck with my fingertips, but felt nothing.

“They do a very good job of hiding it, but that one gave you your talent, but the new one will enhance it,” my dad added.

“Wait if you put it in at 9 months old, then why did it happen when I was 7?”

“Because at 9 months you are not ready to handle your talent, so we decided 7 was the perfect age. We are able to control it.”

“What? So were you the one stopping my visions?”

My dad shook his head, “we don’t know why that happened. We tried to get you into The Facility to get the upgrade, but you ran away.”

“…hold on, earlier you said ‘when you got me,’ what does that mean?”

My mom chimed in, “well we are not your biological parents,” my jaw dropped (literally). “Your parents were shot and killed when you were only 8 months old. The R.F.I. got a hold of you and was looking for people to take care of you. So Roger and I knew we had to help and I had some connections with some people here, so they gave you to us to help raise.”

I was completely and utterly speechless.

“I know this is a lot to take in, but we love you and we want you to do the right thing.”

Lydia decided to voice her opinion, “Robert, this is extremely important, we need your help. It is for the greater good,” she said, almost robotic.

“Son…”

“You are not my father,” I mumbled.

“Listen, I know this is hard, but you must understand, this will be done and you will get a new chip. Lydia took very well to the upgrade.”

What? She was upgraded? Although I still want sure what that meant.

“We can even show you another example of a successful upgrade,” Perry announced.

The door opened and first what I saw was shocking, but the second thing I saw made me shut my eyes and pray this was all a dream.