Kill Switch: Chapter 49
Just Say Thank You
“Don’t worry,” Vonn Senior says, “I wouldn’t waste this precious serum on you.” He sits down on a concrete chair across from me, uncaps the syringe, sets the cap on the ground, clutches at his thigh, and sticks the needle into a handful of muscle. He grimaces as he presses down on the plunger. A small dot of blood surfaces as he extracts the needle. He wipes the blood with a handkerchief, then picks up the cap, which clicks back into place. He stands, walks over to a plastic container on the wall, and slips the syringe inside the container before returning to his chair.
He claps his hand. “Shall we get started?”
I want to spit in his face, but I have a feeling that it’s going to take more than saliva to solve my problem, so instead, I cross my legs and say nothing.
Somebody is shouting outside. Mr. Vonn Senior crooks his neck like a vulture, stands, walks to the tall glass window overlooking The Without.
“Poor wretch,” he says.
I stand so I can see better.
Cosmo is stumbling toward the exit, yelling at a guard to let go of him.
“All I want is a glass of water!” he yells. “Is that too much to ask? How am I supposed to swallow these pills without water? My mouth is dry as a desert!”
The guard presses on a panel of the laserproof dome and tosses Cosmo to the ground. “Go get your own water, simul.” He closes the panel and returns to the mansion.
In the distance, Cosmo works his way up a hill before dissipating into the valley. Moments later, the hovercraft surfaces and darts away, dissipating into dusk.
Vonn Senior turns. “Nasty stuff, Jaz.”
“You oughta know,” I say. “You invented it.”
Vonn Senior’s mouth makes the shape of an O. “Me? No, I didn’t invent Jaz.”
“Yes, you did,” I say. “Jaz was created by Younder, which is a Vonn Industries subsidiary. Ergo, as CEO of Vonn Industries, you are responsible for Jaz.”
Vonn Senior smirks. “I’m afraid you’re wrong, Vonn 19. You see, all I do is enable efficient innovation. I can’t be held responsible for everything that the free market produces. And hell, even if I were responsible, well, that’s just the price of progress. You’ve gotta crack a few goo eggs to make a goo omelet. Am I right?”
“No,” I say. “You’re not.”
Vonn Senior shrugs. “Well, I’m afraid it’s not for you to decide. And, in fact, we’re off topic. I brought you here…”
“Where are my people?” I ask. “Yide, X, Claudette, Bunnfield, Elijah? And what the hell are you doing with them?”
Vonn Senior strokes his chin, then takes something off a long concrete table before moving over to the aquarium. “As for Elijah, my understanding is that he died during the Withouter Hunter attack, but maybe Cosmo lied to me about that?” He swings an eye toward me, smirking.
Well, at least Cosmo had the decency to cover for Elijah…
“No, Cosmo didn’t lie,” I say. “I forgot. I think I’m still suffering from the after effects of Jaz.”
Vonn Senior makes a tsk tsk sound. “Don’t worry, Vonn 19, I’m not going after Elijah Mitchell. He can be a pain in the butt, what with all the monkeywrenching and all, but I’ve found a way to repurpose his shenanigans to my benefit. In fact, Elijah Mitchell is worth more to me alive than dead. As long as he’s out there, spouting out his righteous pacifism, brainwashing the masses into non-violent disobedience, he’s helping Vonn Industries remain productive and efficient.”
Sounds like Bunnfield. Does that mean Bunnfield is on his side? My paranoia is running rampant.
“Fine,” I say. “Then what about the rest of them? What are you doing with my colleagues?”
Vonn Senior turns his head, as if he’s about to say something else, but instead of saying something, he sprinkles what looks like dust into the aquarium. Fish dart toward the floating speckles.
“I’m afraid we’ve started off on the wrong foot, Vonn 19. In fact, I’m sensing a little ingratitude from you. You haven’t thanked me once since you walked into my office. It’s very disrespectful, given everything I’ve done for you, to waltz into my office without a single word of gratitude.”
“First of all,” I say, “I didn’t waltz into your office. I was handcuffed and forced into your office against my will.”
Vonn Senior swings toward me, holds up a finger. “Just say thank you, Vonn 19, and then we can move on.”
“Thank you for what?”
“You were the one who entered headquarters, uninvited, so don’t talk to me about being forced here against your will. In fact, I could have easily had you killed. My advisors were begging me to kill you. But you see” – he makes an odd gesture with his hands, as if he’s never used them before – “I am a man who is willing to make a deal. And that’s why I brought you here. To make a deal. But you haven’t once said thank you, have you? In fact, you’ve never once thanked me for giving you life. I checked the files. Many of your brothers and sisters – Vonn 76, for instance, and Vonn 54 – write me regularly, thanking me for the wonderful life I’ve given them. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even be here. I was the one who invested in the technology that brought about sponsored births. I was the one who made sure you were raised in the best incubator, attended the best prep, and got a good job at a top-level content machine. Not to mention that I–” he pounds his chest like an ape – “created The Within. If it weren’t for me –” he thrusts his hand toward The Without – “you’d be living out there, in the elements, subject to all kinds of deprivations. So just say thank you, Vonn 19, and then we can get down to business.”
He crosses the room, places the jar of fish food on the concrete table, and then looks at his watch before walking over to a stand of pill bottles. He starts unscrewing the tops and placing pill after pill on the stand.
“I’m on a strict regime,” he says. “It’s important to stick to a schedule. Right now” – he checks his watch again – “it’s time for my nightly supplements. Sixty-five pills in total.”
He starts swallowing one pill after another. Silence overtakes the room. Apparently, he’s either waiting for me to thank him, or he’s forgotten that he asked. Either way, I’m sure as hell not thanking him for a damn thing. In fact, if it weren’t for two security guards by the door, I’d choke him with my handcuffs and enjoy every second.
I walk over to the aquarium. The fish food is gone. The school has dispersed. A baby fish swims through what appears to be a streak of oil.
“Beautiful,” Vonn Senior says. “Aren’t they?” He’s by my side, apparently having swallowed all sixty-five pills. “They’re called killifish.”
“Killifish?”
“That’s right. Kill, from the dutch word for small stream. They’re a special species of fish, very resilient. Their genetics have mutated to be able to withstand extreme levels of toxicity. Over the past decades, so many species have died from all the pollution, but not the killifish. No, the killifish have adapted, found a way to thrive. That’s why I have this aquarium in my office. The killifish is my spirit animal. Like them, I have found a way to thrive in a world of toxins. Sure, when the world went to shit, I could have just thrown my hands in the air and given up. Plenty of people did back then. All the nukes going off. The flooding. Extreme weather events. It was understandable, you know, the people who threw in the towel. But that’s not what the strong do, Vonn 19. No, no, no. The strong find a way to thrive. They adapt. They innovate. When I started Vonn Industries, it was just a humble plastic factory with a single, modest government contract to produce 3D guns. I was twenty-five years old. Fresh out of business school. With just a three-million dollar loan from my father. And look where I am now? I not only created an entire subterranean world to guard against the harsh elements of The Without, but in addition to a million other innovations, I have pioneered space travel. In fact, I am just now returning from an expedition to the moon, which brings me to the reason I brought you here, Vonn 19, the reason I decided not to shoot you the second you stepped inside headquarters.” Vonn Senior cracks his neck. “But first, I want to show you something. Follow me.”
He gestures toward a wall across the room. I follow him, not sure what else to do. At this point, I’m just trying to stall for time, certain that the uprising in The Without must be gaining momentum. Now that The Withiners know the truth, it won’t be long before they find a way to put Vonn Senior’s head on a platter…