by Bianca D’Arc
“Guilty as charged. I monitor the pens from time to time to see how they’re treating everyone, but my mother doesn’t know it. She’d be pissed if she found out, so keep it quiet, okay?”
“Why? Who’s your mother?” Dave’s tone was suspicious. They really didn’t know who this guy was except that he was an incredibly strong telepath and undoubtedly human. Or was he?
They could actually feel his sigh in their minds. “I’m half-Alvian. My mother is the lead scientist in this city, Mara 12. My father is human. His name is Justin O’Hara. The Alvians call me Hara, but I prefer Harry.”
“We’ve heard rumors about you, kid. Son of a bitch. They actually did it. They bred with a human just to see how the baby would turn out.” Mike was clearly disgusted by the idea.
But Dave was more understanding. “You’ve probably had it pretty rough, Harry. Thanks for leveling with us. And thanks for the warning the other day. You saved Jaci a lot of trouble.”
“My sister filled me in on what happened to her. Tough break. But my Uncle Caleb says it’s one more link in the chain that will save humanity. He’s a strong precog and he hasn’t been wrong yet.”
“You think what happened to Jaci is a good thing?” Dave’s question was cautious.
“More importantly, does your precognitive uncle believe it?” Mike was more practical, as usual.
“Let’s put it this way,” Harry said seriously, “if she turns out to be compatible with one or both of you, you’ll celebrate the day she got sloppy in the lab. Having a true mate is a blessing, especially now that human women are so scarce. I know, I’ve seen the relationship my father has with my step-mother and the one my sister has with her mates. They’re lucky people and if either of you are so lucky as to have already found your mate, you’ll have my eternal envy.”
“So how do we know if she’s thiswhat did you call itresonance mate? She told us about the humming phenomenon, but she didn’t have time to tell us the rest and we weren’t able to find much on the viewer.” David’s question was clinical, but excited nonetheless.
“My sister gave her a crystal. The next time you’ve got her to yourselves, put the crystal nearby, then take her in your arms.”
“I think I like the sound of these tests,” Mike murmured with a touch of humor that all three men enjoyed.
“The first test is the Hum. She said you both Hum with her. That’s good. One down, two to go. The second test is the Kiss. With the crystal nearby, kiss her and the crystal should glow reddish-orange. The Hum will increase too, but I guess you won’t be able to hear it since you’re human.”
“What’s the third test? Is there a third?” Mike wanted to know.
“The third test is the Embrace. Touch her skin on skin and deepen the kiss, fitting your body to hers intimately. The crystal will shine yellow like the sun and the Hum will increase as well. After that, there’s only the Joining and from what I’ve heard, when you join with your true resonance mate, the crystal will shine with the light of a thousand stars. I’ve never experienced it myself, but to give you some idea, my sister and her mate caused such an energy rush during their first joining, half the crystals in this city glowed and she was over three thousand miles away.”
“No shit?” Dave used his favorite expletive though there was a bit of awe in each of the three men’s joined minds.
“One or both of you could be her mate, so you might have to get used to the idea of sharing,” Harry warned.
“I think we can handle that. We’re not proud of it, but since the cataclysm, we’ve shared women.” Again it was Dave who was so forthcoming with details Mike would rather have kept to himself.
“Are you brothers? I only ask because my step-mom is mate to all three O’Hara brothers. I was working on that theory until my sister found her mates who are completely different species.” They could hear the dismay in his voice even telepathically.
“We’re cousins. We had a business together before the cataclysm and we’ve always been close. Being gifted in the old world, you know, it made us stick together.”
“Yeah, back then we had to hide our psychic abilities, now it’s the thing that saved us.” David’s tone was dry.
“You’re both telepathic, but I sense more. Dave, you’re a healer, right? That’s what had Jaci so up in arms that they called me. But what about you, Mike?”
“I’ve got a tiny bit of empathy and sometimes I can mind read, but my biggest skill is that I’m a dreamwalker.” Mike used the slang term for telepaths who had the ability to insert themselves into other people’s dreams. It was a rare as well as a somewhat tricky gift, just like mindreading, which was another slang word for high-level telepaths who could pick up on the thoughts of other people even when they were not being directed to them.
“Made me a bit of a shark in business,” Mike continued, “but I tried never to abuse the information I learned from my rivals too much. It’s hard to believe that was over twenty years ago now. I’m getting to be an old man. What day is it, kid? Do you know?”
“September twenty-second. Why?”
“Damn, my forty-sixth birthday just passed. Jaci’s too young for me.”
“Well, actually, Alvians don’t age like you did. She’s probably about the same age as you chronologically, but you’ll have to ask her to know for sure. Their lifespan is about five or six hundred years, as is yours now.”
“What?” David was clearly shocked.
“Oh, I guess you didn’t realize. When Mara first took my Uncle Caleb from the family for study, I brokered a deal with her. By then she realized the humans left on Earth after the cataclysm most likely carried at least some Alvian DNA. Hara was one of their famous explorers and he was lost to them. He probably stayed here on Earth and was one of my distant ancestors. You two probably also have Alvian ancestors back in your family’s far past. Anyway, you have the gene that would make you age like an Alvian, but it was turned off by your human side. I asked her to turn it back on so my father, uncles, step-mother and siblings could live longer, but I recently found out Mara’s been doing it to all the human prisoners so she can study them longer. She doesn’t want to take the risk that she might lose the traces of Alvian DNA you all carry by taking too long to discover its uses.”
“Holy shit.” Dave was as eloquent as ever. “So you mean that she turned off our aging gene two years ago when we were caught?”
“Probably, but I can try to check your records to be absolutely sure.”
“Do that, would you, kid? This is big news and a little hard to take in.” Mike picked up the slack for his shocked cousin.
“Hang on a second, I’ll be back shortly.”
And with that, Harry was gone from their minds.
The two cousins stared at each other.
“We’re going to live five hundred years?”
“Or maybe six.” Mike added helpfully, equally stunned as his cousin.
“Holy shit.”
Far above the pens in the city, Harry was hacking into his mother’s computer system. He chastised himself for not looking for this information before, but he was glad he’d checked now. Mara had apparently decided, with the High Council’s approval, not to take any chances on losing more of their ancestors’ DNA. She’d blanketed the remote areas of the Earth with an airborne agent that would infect every human who breathed it, altering their DNA so they ceased to age as a normal human.
That meant his new friend Mike wasn’t actually forty-six, but more like thirty-six or even younger, depending on when he’d been exposed to the agent. She’d started distributing it almost fifteen years ago. This news was too big to keep to himself. He had to tell his family, but first, he had to tell Mike. He owed the man that much for giving him a reason to check.
He reached out gently with his mind, finding the man easily now that he knew the path.
“Hey, Mike, I have good news, I think. They didn’t administer the agent when they caught you. I just discovered my mother’s team started
blanketing the Earth with a gene-altering agent about fifteen years ago. You were probably exposed back then because they tested you when you were caught and your Alvian aging gene had definitely already been activated. Dave’s too.”
“So what you’re saying is I’ve got basically forty-six years worth of living in a thirty-one year old body? And I’ll age about one year physically for every fifty years of actual time?”
“That’s about the size of it.”
“Holy shit.”
Grady Prime was the perfect gentleman on the trip home, but he did look at her oddly a few times. He’d had to come get her in the Chief Engineer’s quarters when they were ready to go and he’d almost caught her in an emotional display. But Davin had chimed, giving them a bit of warning before the other man knocked on the door and she’d had a precious few moments to school her features.
She couldn’t believe what she’d seen in the engineering facility. Not only was Callie a Breed, but she was a truly gifted crystallographer who had found not just one, but two resonance mates. She was also one of the nicest people Jaci had ever met. As was her brother, Hara, whom she had yet to meet in person, but if what he’d said was true, he would seek her out soon.
It felt good to know there were other people who knew about her problem and who thought they could at least try to help her. They would help her friends too, if they could. Suddenly she was aware of an underground movement to make life better for the native inhabitants of this world and just as suddenly, she found herself hoping they would succeed.
Anyone with feelings could see what her people had done to these earthlings was wrong. Destroying their way of life, changing their very planet was a grievous sin, only compounded by what they’d done since. Capturing the survivors, separating families, forcing them into experiments without regard for their emotions was unforgivable in her newly awakened mind. She vowed silently to put all her energies towards helping them achieve some bit of freedom.
But first she had to deal with the looks Grady Prime kept shooting her. She had to tell him that there was no chance of a repeat between them, but she had to do it in such a way as to not insult him. He was still, after all, a powerful Prime, one of the elite.
So just after they landed back in the northern city, she sought a private word with him as they walked from the shuttle port to the main part of the city.
“Grady Prime, I have something to say that I think you will not like, but I must say it to clear the air between us.”
“Say what you wish, Jaci 192. I’m not an unreasonable man even if I am a soldier.”
She smiled softly, trying not to show too much emotion.
“I have no disgust of soldiers, Grady Prime. I’m only a Jaci, after all.”
“Even a Jaci holds higher station than a soldier.”
She was surprised by the bitterness in his voice. While she’d always been taught that soldier strains had more aggression left than any other, she’d never realized they could experience other kinds of emotion too. Suddenly she felt sorry for him.
“I’ve always thought such rankings were stupid, really. I admire your achievements, Grady Prime, and under other circumstances, I would welcome the opportunity to be your bed partner. In fact, I’m flattered that you asked in the first place.”
“Yet I sense you’re about to turn me down.” He was taking it well, all things considered.
She smiled to soften the blow.
“As I said, I would welcome your invitation under other circumstances, but I have a prior commitment that is incompatible with starting a relationship with you.”
“There’s someone else?”
“I’m sorry, Grady Prime. I truly enjoyed our time together, even if it was duty.”
“I know. I could tell.” His smile was devilish and made her shiver in memory of that great orgasm he’d given her.
“You’re gifted at giving a woman pleasure. You surely don’t lack for women eager to bed you.”
Grady looked wistful. “I enjoy my share of female companionship, but I do like you, Jaci 192. I like the look of you and the feel of you. I’m sorry we can’t share more outside of duty, but perhaps it is for the best. I’ve volunteered for a medical test that I have been warned may change me for all time.”
She caught her breath. “You’re going to be part of Mara 12’s new experiment, aren’t you?”
He looked at her sharply. “How do you know about it?”
“I prepared the dosages last week. I’m one of the higher ranking lab techs on Mara 12’s personal staff.”
She thought he looked mildly relieved. “Then you know what it could do to me?”
By the First Shard, did she know! But she couldn’t tell him what she’d learned firsthand about the agent they would administer to him.
“I have some idea, yes. You’re taking a great chance, Grady Prime, but for what it’s worth, I think what you’re doing is a noble thing. I’m only a tech, but even I can see that our people are stagnating the way we are. These humans…” Her voice trailed off as she thought about the people she’d met over the past week and the amazing things she’d learned. “These humans are much more than most of our kind gives them credit for.”
Grady watched her with interested eyes. Perhaps she didn’t realize she’d called the Breeds by the term they used for themselves, but it hadn’t slipped past him. He was trained to be observant after all. This lab tech was more than she seemed but he would reserve judgment until he had more evidence. Still, he would watch her. Carefully.
“I agree that the Chief Engineer’s living situation was surprising to me when I first learned of it, but then, he is a throwback, so he’s bound to be eccentric. You spent time with his mate, didn’t you?”
She nodded. “Yes, Callie is a fascinating woman.”
“I’ve known her and her family for years now. She was a precocious child and has grown into a lovely woman. Her family reports that she’s happy with her mating and she looks well.”
“But you barely spoke to her while we were in the facility.”
Grady shrugged. “I am a soldier. I protect and defend. I don’t make small talk.”
That startled a chuckle out of her that he wasn’t expecting. This girl was something out of the ordinary but he couldn’t put his finger on what was different about her.
“You seem to be doing well talking to me.”
He looked down at her, raising his eyebrows. “You do have a point. I don’t believe I’ve talked this much to anyone in the past six months. You’re easy to talk to, Jaci 192.”
She rewarded him with a bright smile. It touched that place inside him that sometimes yearned to feel, but never quite made it. The thought made him feel just a little empty. It was an uncomfortable observation and one of the many reasons he’d volunteered for this dangerous experiment. He wanted to know what was waiting in that empty place inside him. He wanted to experience the emotions he often watched on the faces of the Breeds he tracked. He wanted something…more than what he’d experienced of life so far.
“I hope then, you would consider me a friend, Grady Prime.”
“That would be nice. I don’t think I’ve ever had a friend who was not also a warrior before.” The idea puzzled him and brought more of those odd sensations.
“You’ll probably be facing some radical changes once you begin the experiment. I hope to be assigned to assist with some of the tech work but even if I’m not, I hope you’ll remember to call me if you need someone to talk to. I’ll pass no judgments and would be glad to assist you if I can.”
He was surprised by her offer but also somewhat grateful for it. He didn’t like scientists as a rule. They tended to look down on everyone who wasn’t a scientist and warriors even more than most. He was comforted to know there would at least be someone there who was a friend. Even if he wasn’t quite sure what made this woman tick.
“I’ll remember, Jaci 192, and I thank you for your generous offer.”
She shocked him furth
er by reaching up on her tip-toes to place a gentle kiss on his rough cheek. It did something inside him he didn’t quite understand. It was a faint sensation, like the kinds of things he sometimes felt and attributed to his inferior Grady DNA, but this was a pleasant feeling, warm and almost friendly. It was something he’d never felt before and something he wanted very much to experience again.
The echo stayed with him long after she’d gone and made him all the more resolute to do this experiment. He wanted to feel. He wanted to experience those things he read on the faces of the Breeds he dealt with in his duties. Even if it were only the unpleasant feelings like fear and anger and rage, he wanted to experience them for himself at least once before he died.
He wasn’t kidding himself. This experiment could very well mean the end of him. As a Grady, he was already considered on the lower end of the evolutionary ladder. He was more aggressive than was thought comfortable by the rest of the emotionless Alvian people. The High Council only allowed more Gradys to be bred because they needed them as soldiers, protectors for their own precious skins. Grady Prime had no illusions about why he existed.
Just as he had no illusions about what the experiment might do to him. If he reverted to the overly aggressive Alvian male of generations past, the High Council might well deem him too violent to be allowed to live. He could easily be put down for the safety of the rest of them because of his skills. But he knewalso because of his special skillshe could probably find a way to escape whoever they sent after him. He could easily disappear into the Waste to live out his life until madness eventually claimed him.
He wasn’t as stupid as the High Council thought. He fully realized that if he did gain emotion through this experiment it might well mean his life would end in madness the way so many of his ancient predecessors’ had ended. It was a soldier’s curse, he well knew, for he was a student of history. He had read the ancient texts, accounts of battles to the last man and desperate struggles of brother against brother. He had read them and studied them, always seeking to understand the deep emotion that drove those long ago men, but he just couldn’t grasp it all.