Inheritance

by Malinda Lo

  Reese knelt on the floor in front of her and threaded her fingers through Amber’s. “No,” Reese said, and Amber’s eyes sparkled as she sensed Reese’s feelings spilling through her. “I don’t want to date people. I want to date you, and I want to date David.”

  Amber looked as if she could hardly believe what Reese had said. “Really?”

  Reese smiled. “Really.”

  Amber lifted a hand to Reese’s face, her fingertips tracing Reese’s cheek, and Reese felt the joy that rose inside Amber, warm as her skin and sweet as the taste of her mouth. Amber put her arms around Reese’s neck and kissed her, murmuring, “I love you.”

  Reese couldn’t resist. She pulled back an inch and said, “I know.”

  Amber’s fingers, twined in Reese’s hair, tightened abruptly. “You did not just say that.”

  “Ow,” Reese said, laughing. She pulled Amber off the bed and onto her lap, and as they kissed, Reese told her: I love you, I love you, I love you.

  That’s better, Amber thought, and Reese ran her hands up Amber’s thighs and felt as if she were floating.

  CHAPTER 40

  They left a note for Carl Baldwin. Amber found a pen in the kitchen’s junk drawer and flipped over the electric bill to write on it.

  Dear Carl Baldwin,

  We’re really sorry for breaking into your house. We didn’t have any other choice. We’ll send you money to cover the damaged window. Also we’re sorry for eating your macaroni and cheese and for taking a pair of your socks. You’re a really good cook.

  Sincerely,

  Amber Gray, Reese Holloway, and David Li

  Amber left the note in the middle of the table, weighted down with a fork, and then scribbled Carl Baldwin’s address on a pizza menu and gave it to Reese. “I don’t have any pockets,” Amber said at Reese’s questioning glance. She had given David’s jacket back to him.

  “Oh.” Reese pocketed the address. “Ready to go?”

  “Don’t forget your guns,” Amber said as she headed for the back door.

  David looked amused. He picked up the agent’s gun from the counter and Reese grabbed Carter’s weapon from the table, and they followed Amber out of the house.

  The black triangle was far above them in the sky, but its sharp edges were clearly distinguishable. A small dot emerged from the ship and descended toward the field. As it approached, Reese recognized it as the lander, wings extended. It touched down behind the stack of hay bales, and when the door opened, their parents ran out to meet them.

  Reese’s mom hugged her so tightly that Reese squeaked. “Are you all right? Did they hurt you? What happened? Why do you have a gun?” her mom demanded all at once. She only let her go when Reese’s dad stepped in to hug her too.

  Reese saw Malcolm Todd standing beside the lander’s hatch. He caught Reese’s eye and nodded toward the craft. “We should go,” Reese said, pulling away from her parents. “We’ll explain everything when we get back to the ship.”

  Returning to the black triangle felt like arriving at a safe house. Reese had never been so relieved to walk down those corridors before. Everyone was gathered in the dining hall—even Akiya Deyir—where stained coffee cups were scattered all over the tables, and the screens on the walls showed several different television stations at once. The fancy headline at the bottom of one network’s broadcast, decorated with the crosshairs of a rifle scope, read: HOSTAGE SITUATION. The moving text below stated: Hunt continues for three missing teenagers taken hostage by AHL militia during botched UN bombing.

  “What’s going on?” Reese asked. “What’s the AHL militia?”

  Akiya Deyir answered, “Americans for Humanity and Liberty. That’s the name of an anti-Imrian group—the same one that posted bail for the man who tried to shoot you at Fisherman’s Wharf.”

  “But they didn’t kidnap us,” David said. “Blue Base soldiers did.”

  “There’s a cover-up in process,” Dr. Brand explained. “AHL supposedly bombed the United Nations the day you were taken.”

  “Was that the noise we heard in the parking garage?” Reese asked.

  “Maybe,” Dr. Brand answered. “It wasn’t a very successful bombing. There wasn’t much damage, but the UN was evacuated and the General Assembly was interrupted. But shortly afterward, AHL—which does model itself on a citizens’ militia group—took credit for abducting you.”

  “We think that AHL might have actually pulled off the bombing,” Todd said. “It was a bit clumsy, and they would have needed inside assistance, but it does line up with their anti-UN stance.”

  Reese watched another of the TV stations, on which photos of her, David, and Amber were shown while an anchorwoman spoke. The volume had been turned off but the closed-captioning at the bottom of the screen read: FBI officials declined to release details on whether they have any leads, but one anonymous agent reportedly claims that the search is fruitless. Imrian ambassador Akiya Deyir has offered assistance to locate the teenagers, but so far the Randall Administration has not issued a public response.

  Deyir, who had seen where Reese’s gaze went, said, “That was right before we heard from Malcolm. President Randall still hasn’t spoken.”

  “President Randall ordered the kidnapping,” Reese said.

  Everyone in the room stared at her. “What?” Dr. Brand said.

  “Are you sure?” the ambassador asked.

  “Yes, I heard them talking about it.” Reese thought back to the voices she had heard through the floorboards. “The soldiers said the president couldn’t make up her mind about what to do with us because she’s a woman. I totally remember that.”

  Amber asked, “Wait, what exactly is the official story?”

  Dr. Brand answered, “The news is reporting that the AHL militia group bombed the UN as a cover to abduct the three of you. They’re supposedly holding you hostage.”

  “What for?” Amber asked.

  Todd shrugged. “The theory is that they’ll ask us—the Imria—for money. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, and basically shows that the Randall Administration is engaging in another cover-up without thinking through the details.”

  “So what’s the true story?” Reese’s mom asked. “This is all very confusing. Why would the president want to kidnap you three?”

  Reese turned to her mom. “She’s still trying to hide what happened during the June Disaster. It all goes back to those birds.”

  “It goes back well before that,” Todd said.

  “We need to release the news that you’ve been found,” Dr. Brand said. “We have to put an end to this fake hostage story—not to mention the fake search for you three.”

  “Yeah,” Reese agreed. “We should do all that, but first we need to go to Los Angeles.”

  “Why?” Deyir asked.

  “Diego Luis Torres,” Reese said. “I owe someone a favor.”

  CHAPTER 41

  Los Angeles Times

  October 18, 2014

  GENETICALLY MODIFIED SOLDIER FOUND DEAD

  By Anthony Krause

  LOS ANGELES—The body of a 23-year-old woman identified as Daniela Torres was found dead in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday. Autopsy results from the remains have not been made available to the public, but an unnamed source from the Los Angeles County Department of the Coroner said that the body held traces of Imrian DNA.

  Imrian spokesperson Nura Halba said that Daniela Torres has never undergone Imrian treatment or received an adaptation procedure. “We believe Ms. Torres was part of a United States military research initiative that used Imrian DNA to create so-called supersoldiers,” Mr. Halba said in an interview. He declined to elaborate, citing ongoing legal proceedings.

  According to unreleased findings from a joint investigation undertaken by journalist Sophia Curtis and citizen journalist website Bin 42 that were previewed by the Los Angeles Times, the initiative’s goal was to create genetically modified soldiers with enhanced strength and endurance. The Pentagon has denied any knowledge of M
s. Torres and has obtained an injunction from the United States District Court, Northern District of California, to restrict publication of the investigation, citing national security concerns. Currently, the decision is under appeal in the Ninth District Court of Appeals, and is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court.

  In an unusual coincidence, adoption proceedings for Ms. Torres’s 7-year-old son, Diego Luis Torres, were filed the same week that Ms. Torres’s body was discovered. Catherine Sheridan and Richard Holloway, parents of the adapted human teenager Reese Holloway, are attempting to adopt Diego Torres, who until recently was a resident at the Children’s Home of Los Angeles. Ms. Sheridan, an assistant district attorney in San Francisco, and Mr. Holloway, an Internet entrepreneur, have refused to comment on their adoption proceedings.

  CHAPTER 42

  www.bin42.com

  THE TRUTH

  By Julian Arens, Jason Briggs, and Sophia Curtis

  Posted November 17, 2014 at 6:00 AM

  Tags: Amber Gray, Blue Base, conspiracies, David Li, Elizabeth Randall, extraterrestrials, Imria, June Disaster, Project Plato, Reese Holloway, Roswell, truth

  Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court issued a historic decision in Bin 42’s favor, stating that the Pentagon’s concerns for national security are outweighed by public interest and the importance of the First Amendment. We at Bin 42, along with Sophia Curtis, who has assisted us in this investigation, applaud the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn 67 years of secrecy regarding the most important discovery in all of human history. We thank our supporters, including the Foundation for Universal Rights, the Full Disclosure Project, and the Imria, for supporting our legal battle and making sure that the public is now able to hear the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

  Out of the Cold War

  The story of Imrian engagement with the United States began in 1947, when an Imrian craft landed near Roswell, New Mexico, with the express goal of making contact with the US. Although the Imria had been coming to Earth for millions of years, this was their first official contact with a human government. According to Imrian Ambassador Akiya Deyir, the Imria chose to make contact with the US rather than other nations because of its role in World War II, including its development of nuclear weapons. The Imria wished to prevent further nuclear proliferation, and they believed that direct cooperation with the US would be the best method of doing this, particularly in light of the postwar geopolitical situation, which left much of the globe unstable or in reconstruction.

  The US, which was engaged in the beginnings of the Cold War, chose to keep its contact with the Imria secret. To that end, the Plato Protocol established a secret research agreement between the US and the Imria. The Imria offered to help the US military develop lifesaving biotechnology, while the US government agreed to provide the Imria with human research subjects. Neither side disclosed their actual plans: The Imria wished to develop an adaptation procedure to adapt humans into Imrians, while the US military planned to use Imrian science and DNA to create supersoldiers.

  In order to manage the Imrian-American relationship, the US formed a highly classified nongovernmental organization known as the Corporation for American Security and Sovereignty. Like the Federal Reserve Bank, CASS was not an official government entity, but its job was to represent the federal government in order to ensure consistent leadership across and outside successive presidential administrations.

  American Military Supremacy

  For decades, CASS managed Project Plato and other classified military projects that arose out of Plato, often violating the Plato Protocol in order to obtain Imrian DNA and biotechnology. CASS justified these violations under the goal of maintaining American military supremacy during the Cold War and later in the face of rising global terrorism.

  CASS launched several military initiatives, including most notably Project Blue Base and Project Blackbird. The goal of Project Blue Base was to create genetically enhanced operatives, or soldiers, using Imrian DNA. These soldiers would be faster, stronger, and smarter than ordinary human soldiers—or at least that was what military scientists promised. In reality, Blue Base soldiers’ bodies were often unable to process the Imrian DNA they were given. In some cases, these soldiers suffered severe mental illnesses and psychotic episodes; in other cases, they died of immunodeficiency diseases at accelerated rates.

  Project Blackbird also utilized Imrian DNA, although in this case the goal was not to modify humans but to gather intelligence. Imrian investigations into American thefts of Imrian technology showed that many animals were genetically altered in attempts to render them capable of following precise human commands. The most promising results arose from genetically modifying birds, which military intelligence planned to use as biological surveillance tools, essentially replacing aerial reconnaissance aircraft. These birds, which were implanted with cameras, would be trained to fly over enemy territory. The first wide-ranging test of Project Blackbird was authorized by President Elizabeth Randall in May 2014 and began the following month.

  This test released a large number of genetically modified birds, which had been ordered to fly in a loop across the United States with their embedded cameras recording the entire journey. The birds did not respond well to the test. In early June, reports were received at Project Blackbird headquarters at Area 51 in Nevada indicating that some birds had deviated from their flight patterns, with some attacking small planes. On June 14, 2012, those attacks became widespread as genetically modified birds began to lead flocks of non-genetically modified birds in suicidal assaults on commercial aircraft. The subsequent accidents became known as the June Disaster.

  The June Disaster and Its Repercussions

  As the extent of the June Disaster became apparent, President Randall authorized a full cover-up of the government-created tragedy. She ordered all crashed airplanes to be cleaned up under classified procedures, with all bird remains destroyed in order to suppress any evidence of the genetic experimentation. In addition, President Randall authorized closures of various public highways and the Internet in order to prevent citizens from observing the results of these plane crashes.

  During the widespread confusion caused by the June Disaster, human teenagers David Li and Reese Holloway suffered a near-fatal car accident on Area 51. Their adaptation at the hands of Imrian scientist Evelyn Brand of Project Plato has been extensively documented elsewhere. It should be noted that it was due to the massive government cover-up of the June Disaster, however, that the Imria were able to secretly adapt Holloway and Li in the first place.

  In an attempt to recover Holloway and Li for military testing, CASS authorized the abduction of the two teenagers from their San Francisco homes in July 2014. Their release from Area 51 following the leak of the video showing the Imrian spacecraft resulted in further complications for the Randall Administration, as it became obvious that the two teens planned to reveal what they had learned during the time they were held at Blue Base, including evidence that the June Disaster was related to genetically modified birds created by the US military. Plans were then set in motion to kidnap the teens once again, this time permanently.

  Although the Randall Administration has denied any involvement in ordering the abduction of the teens, evidence obtained by Holloway and Li show that Blue Base soldiers were clearly behind their kidnapping from the United Nations. Bin 42 has learned that Congress will launch an investigation into the Randall Administration’s role not only in the abductions of these teenagers but in the cover-up of the June Disaster, beginning next week.

  June 2015

  CHAPTER 43

  Amber’s door slid open and Reese leaned into the room. “What’s taking you so long?” she asked.

  Amber was sitting on the edge of her bed, lacing up a pair of knee-high black combat boots. “These,” she said.

  Reese came inside, the door whooshing closed behind her, and picked up the pink dress hanging over the back of a chair. “This is going to get all w
rinkled.”

  “It’s been there for five minutes,” Amber protested. “Here, give it to me.” She stood, reaching for the dress she had just worn at the departure ceremony, and hung it in the narrow closet. The pink edge of it peeked out when she shut the door.

  After months of preparation, the Imria were finally returning to Kurra, along with Reese, David, Julian, and several other human ambassadors. In May, the six-month-long Congressional investigation into President Randall had resulted in her impeachment, with Vice President Huntington stepping in to take her place.

  Reese sat in the chair and watched while Amber returned to lacing the boots. “Are those new?”

  “Yeah. Somebody sent them to me.” Amber seemed pleased. “Ever since they started that photo blog of my outfits I keep getting really awesome stuff.” Amber had developed a particularly enthusiastic following after her interview went live on Bin 42 last fall, with adoring fans documenting her every move.

  As Amber tied the laces into a bow, Reese asked, “Are you going to send them a photo of this outfit?”

  “Maybe.” Amber was wearing black leggings and an artfully ripped vintage T-shirt over a blue tank top. “Do you think I should?”

  “Why not? I like the boots.”

  “Me too. I feel prepared for anything in them. Kidnapping, assault, running through hay fields.” She stretched her legs out to examine the boots. “If only they didn’t take so long to put on.”

  “That’s why I came to get you. Everybody’s ready for the launch.”

  “I’m almost done.” Amber went to the mirror on the back of the closet door and made a couple of adjustments to her short blond hair. She picked up a tube of lip gloss and raised the wand to her mouth, spreading the dark pink gloss over her bottom lip in a quick, sweeping motion. She pressed her lips together, then ran the wand over her upper lip and studied her reflection carefully. She caught Reese staring at her in the glass. “What?” Amber said. “Does it look bad?”