Shabin: The Reluctant Prince of Rhime by Heister Andrew

Author:Heister, Andrew
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-11-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

​Another week passed with Jason diving deeper into the ever-growing stack of information Bill brought to him. About the only interesting item to turn up was proof that the two lead people at Wingate immigrated to Alexandria from Serigala — Dr. Frank Carson and Ms. Ellen Wingate. While it helped confirm to Jason some of his original assumptions, it wasn’t really useful information.

Since Dr. Wilkes was still missing, Bill plied people for information and then suggested nabbing Wingate or Carson. His lackey also continued to show up with an increasing number of bruises, scars, and on one occasion, an impressive limp.

Jason forestalled his accomplice in any effort to grab and torture the two executives. Fortunately, Bill hadn’t been able to track either of them outside the office building so for the moment it was a moot issue. Real or in the Mirre, Jason would have to watch, and he shuddered thinking about going through one of those episodes again. Day after day, the idea both enticed him and scared him. He could see himself become more and more ruthless as the years went by, turning him into another Shabin Emperor willing to do anything just for the sake of gaining more.

After another five days, he got his first response from home — Dr. Wilkes's file from Debra. The details of his firing were ambiguous. A simple insubordination statement affixed to the end of the document. Jason turned to the man’s résumé. While the doctor wasn’t considered a genius, he was certainly well-educated. Dual undergraduate degrees in biology and chemistry with a focus on non-human life-forms. After that, Wilkes went on to get a medical degree but instead of setting up a practice, he re-enrolled and picked up two more doctorates — cloning genetics and Herodotus biology.

Jason couldn’t know from the records, but it looked as if the man custom-designed his education to be perfect for working in the deepest levels of Shabin Industries. He didn’t even start his career until he was well into his forties and Shabin snapped him up a few years later. He’d worked for the company for the next fifty-three years.

The picture brought the recollections back to Jason. He’d seen the man occasionally, and between the picture and his old memories, he thought he had enough to link with Wilkes. The doctor had been a loyal user of Shabin youth retention medications. His last company photo, taken a few months before he left, showed a man in his prime. Close to a hundred, he could pass for fifty if it wasn’t for the markings along his ears. One of the telomere stabilizers had a habit of accelerating ear growth, so most people who used it required frequent ear sculpting.

“What are you doing, Dr. Wilkes?” Jason sat on a couch and spoke to the image.

It was early afternoon when he’d started going through the records; now, it was evening. Jason ached to hop into the Mirre and question the doctor. Confront him. Maybe punch him in the nose.

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