“Is her mind twisted? Will I have to....” Lara mimicked strangulation.
“No killing,” Kenshin snapped.
He slumped and placed his head in his hands, still devastated at the news he’d had to impart to Kali and his Omicron. Worse, he hadn’t even told them there was nothing he could do about it.
Lara slouched over to him and rested her head on his shoulder, scowling. “You really care, don’t you? Why? Even if this invasion didn’t happen did you really consider yourself Human?”
Rubbing her back, Kenshin sighed deeply, wondering if Lara would ever understand what it meant to feel part of the Human Condition. There were times she showed great compassion, as she was at that moment. He was a healer. It was his nature to want people to feel well. She knew allowing him to offer someone comfort would in turn make him feel better. Human emotion opened one to weaknesses, like fear and anger, but the fairer emotions were worth the risk you took. “We all display characteristics that are inherently Human in nature. We’re only half Novan.” He hugged her shoulders and shook her gently. “Don’t forget that.”
“We use their blood to survive,” she pointed out dryly. “They’re a source of replenishment to us and walking wombs to the Novae.”
“The vampiric nature of what we are is relevant, but I believe our softer Human side is even more so. Yes, our bodies need the fresh red blood cells to survive in the highly oxygenated atmosphere, but it is a medical condition that can be managed like any other. Oral consumption was the most effective way the Novae could Reckon for themselves, but the intravenous method for a Hybrid is a stroke of genius. It allows us the option for a peaceful future, and I much prefer it to biting.”
Lara blinked. “You’ve bitten someone?”
“I have.” Igor grunted at the unpleasant memory. “Once, an accident when I was younger. I had not replenished and my body craved the blood.”
“It happened to me too,” Kenshin admitted. “I believe it is a survival instinct that kicks in, much like the Human fight or flight response. Our bodies lose tolerance of the atmosphere and begins to remind us it needs blood cells.”
“I’ve never had that urge.” Lara was intrigued. “Then again I replenish before I start wheezing. My chest gets tight, and I know I only have a few days left.”
“Our vampirism is unfortunate,” Kenshin said.
“It’s never burdened me,” said Lara, “I knew I was freaky, but getting the blood was easy. I used to pay thugs in the OutRim once a month.”
“Once a month?” Kenshin was thoughtful. “I only replenish once a season.”
“For me, every fortnight,” Igor weighed in. He touched his head hesitantly. “Do you know about the hair?”
“The gene that stabilises our alien DNA with our Human DNA disrupts the production of melanin and turns our hair follicles white.” Kenshin puckered his lips, and fingered the inky ends of his hair. “Our Creators do not have any colouring at all, except for their eyes and the cloudy mass of their cerebral cortex. They are transparent in some places. My hair didn’t lose colour until I was older and relied on my telekinesis. I wonder if I reduced the use of my ability if it would revert to its original shade. My eyebrows are still black as is my body hair.”
“Blue has almost no pigmentation at all except for his eyes,” Lara mentioned. “He says he’s always been that way.” She tugged on her hair, still neatly plaited into pigtails. “Do you think you could generate a dye that would hold on us? I miss my pink.”
“Maybe. I need to study us in more detail. Our genome is complex.”
“How could they have not known about us,” Igor asked. “The Alliance. They had to have seen some kind of pattern.”
“It’s logical to assume we were born anaemic with severe breathing complications at birth. These things are easily remedied. With the sheer number of births that happen every year galaxy-wide there would never be any indication that we were nothing but Human, especially as soon as we became aware of ourselves we went to great lengths to hide what we were, to blend in.”
“What about the blood that’s sampled for record purposes? Everybody had a snapshot of their DNA on profile.”
“Our DNA looks Human with rudimentary analysis. Only a few of the nucleotides in our helix are different.”
Lara shook her head, smiled wistfully. “I can’t believe there were thousands of us out there.”
“All that time I felt alone,” Igor rumbled. His hands fisted. “All that time spent gathering information. And for what purpose? To destroy? To kill?”
Lara pushed away from Kenshin and scoffed. “Listen to you two. Do you really love them? Humans.”
“Yes.” Kenshin replied. “I believe it is my nature.”
Igor was less quick to answer. He considered his feelings. “I care.”
“Well I don’t.” She tugged on the end of her braids. “I just want to live my life how I want. Protecting an assembly line of frightened pregnant women is not my idea of a good time.”
“Agreed.” Igor grinned.
“Do you know what it is that makes us special?” Lara genuinely wanted to know. “Why did we feel the need to reach out?”
Kenshin shrugged, but it was something he was beginning to give a great deal of thought. “Maybe our specific skills and areas of focus allowed us to connect with humanity on an emotional level.”
“I make weapons. I really want to connect when I’m shooting holes into something or blowing it up.”
“It forces you to look at the morality of what you’re doing more closely,” Kenshin insisted. “To take a life is not an easy thing.” Anticipating Lara’s protest, he shot her a droll look. “Maybe that intense study of what is considered right and wrong is what triggered your Human emotions. I didn’t always feel this way towards them. As a child, I didn’t care what happened to people on this planet. I had no sense of belonging or loyalty. Then I met a young girl who was sick. My knowledge helped heal her. It was after that everything changed. I felt a connection to life, a piece that was missing clicked. I didn’t quite feel like I belonged, but I felt more grounded. It was then I became curious if there were others like me.”
“Me too,” Igor said. “My Natalya was found abandoned and dying.” He patted his companion’s head without looking, knowing she would be sitting at his side as she always was and he hoped always would be. “I nursed her to health. Soon, the protection of living things became my priority not just the need to study and learn. It became a calling.”
They looked at Lara expectantly.
She glowered at them, but fair was fair. “I was seventeen. I worked at a seedy bar in the OutRim, just a bad place. On my way home I was attacked.” She waved a hand at their troubled expressions. “Don’t worry, I kicked his ass. Soon as I got over the fear of a bigger, physically stronger male throwing me about, I wiped the floor with him. It was the first time I’d used my telekinesis offensively.” Lara’s face darkened as she was thrown back into the past. She remembered the feel of the sweaty hands that grabbed her, and the nasty unwashed stench of a lumbering body. Years later the sickening chortles of triumph from her attacker as he dragged her into the shadows of a rubbish-strewn alleyway still echoed in her ears. She shuddered. “I didn’t kill him. I should have, but I didn’t see the need for it. Another server that worked at the same bar wasn’t so lucky the next night. I found her raped and beaten. She died in minutes. All she wanted was to hold my hand, she begged me, not to leave her alone, to stay until she was gone.” Lara stared at her palm as her other arm hugged her middle. “I remember thinking how unfair it was that she was unable to defend herself. I remembered the terror I felt when that asshole grabbed me. She would have felt the same, except she had no way to fight back.”
“How did you know it was him?” asked Igor. “The same man?”
Lara pulled her hair away from her neck and under her ear was a dark scar, a burn mark.
Igor frowned. “It looks like–”
“A star insid
e a planet,” she said, letting her hair fall. “He branded us with his ring. He got her on the cheek.” Lara’s eyes glittered like jewels, beautiful and hard. “That’s why I don’t hesitate to kill. That’s why I learned how to use a knife, because sometimes there is no time to shoot, and only a blade will do. If I had done the just thing that girl would still be alive. I corrected my mistake, but that doesn’t bring her back. It doesn’t ease what she suffered.”
Kenshin’s eyes were soft. “And you say you don’t love them.”
18.
Kali stepped into the main living area and blinked. Max was on his knees talking to a child, and when he spotted her his face took on an almost remorseful look.
He said something to the boy and stood.
Kali shuffled closer, admiring the boy’s astonishing appearance. He was a Hybrid that much was clear from his colouring, and the self-possession in his countenance. He had gorgeous eyes, the kind that could pin you to the spot. His cheeks were chubby and his lips pouty with youth.
Where in the universe had he come from?
“Who is this?”
“I can’t watch,” Max said, scooting past her towards the sofas. “That would be too cruel, even for me.”
Kali was left with the child who stared at her, head cocked. Dressed in a pastel green bodysuit with his hair neatly side-parted, he looked very grown up. He linked his hands behind his back and tapped his foot.
“Kali,” he said matter-of-factly as a greeting. A FetchMe zoomed into the room and landed on his shoulder with a fussy beating of wings. “I am called Caesar.” The stroked the raptor’s off-white breast. “This is Hypatia, Blue’s FetchMe, but she answers to me as well.”
“I’ve met Hypatia. She’s gorgeous.” Kali offered her hand. “Blue never told me he had a brother.”
Caesar took her outstretched hand and gave it firm shakes with his small one, twisting their hands so his was dominantly on top. His babyish face twisted in confusion. “He doesn’t.”
Kali’s smiled faltered. “I’m sorry, who are you?”
“His son.”
The statement echoed in her ears and got louder on each reverberation. Kali jerked upright, forgetting to let go of his hand and yanked him with her. Her exclamation got stuck, and she scratched at her throat. “He never told me that either.”
“Told you what?” Blue asked from the doorway.
Kali spun. Hand shaking, she motioned at Caesar. “Guess who I’ve just met.”
“My son?”
“To use your own words, correct.”
“Your neck is blotchy. Are you having an allergic reaction? I have anti-histamine shots back at medical.”
Kali’s eyes rolled to what would have been skyward if she wasn’t several feet below the earth. “I can’t believe we’re actually having this conversation.” She dragged her nails across her skin, trying to pull down a full breath. “My neck is on fire.”
“I don’t understand.”
She fanned her face and tugged at the collar of her tunic. “Blue, you have a son who is….”
“Six in four months,” Caesar said helpfully, giving her the same baffled look as his father.
“Thanks. Blue, you have a six-in-four-months-year-old son, and you never told me.”
He blinked. “Didn’t think you’d see it as a problem.”
“It’s not. It’s not a problem, but it never crossed your mind to say, “Kali, I have a child,” purely so that my heart didn’t try to leave my chest when I bumped into him?”
“You never asked if I had a son.” He said this pensively, as if that was some kind of explanation.
“Stars!” She curled her fingers into claws and mimicked scratching him. “Ugh.” Kali stormed off.
Blue sighed.
“She is upset I exist.”
Blue looked at his son and put a hand on the crown of his head. Caesar was the duplicate image of himself as a child, but his son communicated better than he ever did with his peers, and had wisdom far beyond his small years. Blue struggled to remember at times this child was a part of him, and not a separate entity he considered a trusted companion, like his Hypatia.
“Things are complicated,” he explained.
“You have feelings for her.”
Blue crouched to look him in the eye, nodded.
“If she asks, you’re going to place us in danger to save her family.”
Blue would never put his son in danger, but any risk to Blue’s own life did have a direct impact on Caesar’s future. “Correct.”
“She is the reason you rejected the Novae reconditioning … why you still resist them, isn’t she.”
There was no judgment or condemnation in his son’s eyes, only the need to gather knowledge and understand it. “No,” Blue said. “She was the final push I needed to open my eyes to the world around me, but thoughts of you gave me the strength to fight back.”
“Me?”
Blue smiled. He rubbed Caesar’s small shoulder. “You.”
The child’s face lit brightly before clouding over. “I’m proud of you,” he said then spun and made his way back into his room. Blue followed behind, but paused when Caesar turned. “Something is not right with her. There are blank spots in her mind that should not be there. It seems her reactions are all recalled rather than the product of genuine recognition. There is a difference between the two.”
“I’m aware of the differences between recognition and recall memory.”
“Her thoughts feel forced. As if the memories are there because they were put there. It is strange she claims memory of her abduction. You have all talked of fractured memory.”
“Claims?”
“I am speculating, father. Do not misconstrue my words for something else.”
Blue was taken aback. Caesar called him Blue, always had, and the deviation in address was unexpected.
He took note of the concerns with a nod. “Told you before about walking minds so deeply without invitation.” Blue kept his gaze steady. “It is rude.”
Caesar shrugged. “There is no malice in it.” The child walked into his room and shut the door, ending the conversation.
*
She needed to destroy something. At the least, vent her frustration at someone who didn’t use logic as a crutch to fight every argument. Kali spotted her potential ally slouched on the sofa in the living area.
Max held up the peace sign. “Not happening.”
“But I–”
He pushed the palm out until she had to step back. “I have no friendly advice, and I don’t want to hear blather about a guy I warned you not to date.”
“Did you know?”
“Yeah. I did work with him.”
She gawked. “You didn’t think to tell me?”
Puckering his lips thoughtfully, Max ended his deep study of what should have been an easy answer with a jerked shoulder. “It never crossed my mind. I told you I couldn’t remember much about him when he wasn’t around me. When I saw the kid, I remembered in a flash.” He patted her arm. “At least now we know it’s because they’re Hybrids. I was talking to Ken, and he theorises their brainwaves give off some weird radiation.”
She grabbed the outstretched hand and flung it away. “Couldn’t you just let me rant?”
Max plugged his ears with his forefingers. He jumped the sofa to get away from her. “I’m avoiding you for the good of our friendship.” He sauntered off whistling.
Kali glared at his back. Her nostrils flared, and she stormed past him into the corridor. “Some best friend you turned out to be,” she yelled. Stomping through the halls of Blue’s bunker, she passed the armoury then backtracked to see Lara sat on a cot, lovingly stroking a blaster. Kali charged into the room and pointed at her. “You think he was out of line, right? To let me find out about Caesar like that? Who does that?” Kali did a double take at the walls. “My stars, there are a creepy amount of weapons in this room. You’re comfortable in here?”
Lara blinked. Her
hand slowly slid out of her pocket where it had instinctively gone when she’d felt someone enter the room and bolt straight at her. She doubted the Omicron would like it if she stuck holes in his Human female.
“I’m not good at this feminine ritual of speculation on male mating practices,” she said then added for clarification, “Men suck. Understanding them isn’t as fun and more complicated than killing them.”
“Umhm. Is that a rocket launcher in the corner?”
Lara could sense this would take a while unless she actively contributed to the conversation. “What do you want me to say?” she asked finally, turning her attention onto Kali instead of the rifle.
Kali crossed her arms over her chest, lips pulling down. “Empathize. He lied by omission, right. He did. Didn’t he?”
“I can’t claim to know his mind. Logically there was nothing for Blue to gain by withholding his parental status from you.” Lara searched for words to placate her leader’s prospective mate, so she would bounce away as she had bounced in. “You know now, and it changes little. Forgive the Omicron.” She paused, shrugged. “He has nice hair. Does that help?”
Kali eyed her. “Seriously? That’s all you’ve got? I tell you my alien almost boyfriend lied to me by omission, and your brilliant extraterrestrial mind comes up with, ‘he has nice hair.’”
“No one’s perfect,” Lara snapped. She had not the time or the patience to pander to an irrational female. “He is trying, and good hair is important to people like you.”
“People like me? Cosmic.” Kali’s hands slapped her thighs. “I can’t talk to anybody.”
She marched off.
Lara sighed in relief, bending her head to fiddle once again with the discharge chamber on her beloved pulse rifle.
She called it Edna. The rate of fire alone made the weapon attractive, but the high ammunition capacity allowed for a three hundred round Blue Matter clip. The rounds themselves could shoot holes the size of HoverBalls into a target. Its secondary firing mode was a pump-action grenade launcher that shot blasts of Blue Matter in a plasma state. The electromagnetically energised projectiles were kinetic, sucking power as they accelerated through the air and exploded on contact.
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