Botanicaust

by Linsey, Tam

  He shut the door and headed to the bed. “Tula. Tula, wake up.”

  She stretched, limber green arms rising above her head, blanket dipping and exposing her breasts. She blinked sleepily at him, her lips curling into a cat-like smile. “Mmm, Levi.”

  “Tula, you need to get dressed.” He plucked the edge of the blanket to cover her. The room smelled of sex.

  Her smile faded and she sat up, arms crossed over the blanket to hold it in place. “Is something wrong?”

  Realizing his forehead hurt from worry, he forced it smooth. Just pretend you are married. The Fosselites don’t know any better. He’d make it right with God in the end. “Visitors are coming.”

  A knock sounded at the door. Tula flipped back the covers, exposing her full nakedness. Levi needed to look away, but couldn’t. Every inch of him wanted her again. How could the Fosselites not desire her, too? The knock came again. “Levi, it’s Dr. Kaneka.”

  Tula bent to look under the bed and Levi’s hopes rose that she’d discarded her clothing there. When she pulled out the same miniscule skirt she’d worn the entire journey, he grimaced. Why hadn’t they given her proper clothing?

  She tied the bit of fabric about her hips and smiled at him like he was being silly before she opened the door. Dr. Kaneka stood outside, the big man who’d kidnapped Tula yesterday once again shadowing him. The doctor’s brows lifted nearly to his hairline before a mask descended. He pushed up his glasses. “Good morning.”

  Shameful heat flooded Levi as if he’d been discovered by an Elder. There was no denying they’d been together. Face the consequences. He stiffened his spine. Stepping in front of Tula, he could at the very least hide her from the big guy staring straight at her chest without even a pretense of looking at her face. “Good morning.”

  Dr. Kaneka surveyed Tula and spoke unrecognizable words. Levi fought the urge to pull the blanket from the bed and wrap her in it. She said something back, and the doctor replied. Levi was sure the man’s eyes strayed to her naked body.

  She put a hand on Levi’s arm. “He says … word-woman? … see you. She is…” Tula scrunched her eyes in thought, then made a circular motion next to her head. “Head is bad. No Haldanians.” She tottered a step backward.

  “I have to go without you?” He shook his head. “I won’t leave you alone.”

  “For Josef.”

  She was right. He had to cure Josef. “You stay in the room. Here. Okay?”

  Levi followed Dr. Kaneka and the big man followed Levi. He wondered if the man was some sort of bodyguard. At least he hadn’t stayed behind with Tula.

  They passed several doors and stopped before one just like Levi’s. Dr. Kaneka rapped twice and opened it. Shelves of books filled the room, floor to ceiling, all sizes and colors lined up spine out. Levi stepped inside with awe. The big man eased past Levi and shambled straight to a lower bookshelf to pull out a tall, thin volume.

  “Michael, not now,” Dr. Kaneka barked. The big man’s face grew even longer as he pushed the book back in place.

  On the far side of the room, a coffee table surrounded by four plush chairs invited people to sit and enjoy reading. A head with a red ponytail popped up over the back of one chair. The woman rose to greet them and Levi stumbled. It was the crazy woman, Rosalee.

  “I promise I’ll read to you later, Michael.” She turned to Levi. Her bloodshot eyes were not nearly as startling as Dr. Kaneka’s, but Levi didn’t remember her having red eyes yesterday. “Hello, please have a seat. My name is Rosalee.” She acted like she didn’t remember him.

  He didn’t move to sit.

  “I hear you had quite a journey getting here.” Rosalee indicated the bandage on Levi’s wrist.

  He covered the bandage with his other hand, as if her stare might re-open the wound. “Between the Blattvolk and the cannibals, I’m surprised we’re still alive.”

  “The Blattvolk. Is that what you call the Haldanians? Leaf people?”

  Levi nodded, watching her closely. “You seem … better today.”

  Rosalee’s fine, pale skin flushed crimson and she darted a glance at Dr. Kaneka. “Yes, I hear I was quite rude. I apologize. I’ve had —” she glowered, “medication, now.”

  Medication to take away dementia. Maybe these people could cure Josef. But then why the Down’s Syndrome? Glancing at Dr. Kaneka, he rubbed his chin a moment. “Excuse me for asking, but your people seem to have a lot of … disabilities. Why haven’t you cured them?”

  Letting out a slumping breath, Rosalee indicated the chairs again and sat down. “You are talking about our children, I assume? The ones with Down’s Syndrome? We love them as best we can, given the circumstances.”

  Levi lowered himself to the edge of one chair, hyper conscious of Dr. Kaneka still standing near the door.

  “I’m not a scientist. But from what I understand, our longevity therapy causes changes in the fetus during gestation. Down’s Syndrome is the most survivable of the defects. Michael, here, is the result of using a surrogate.” Her eyes glazed as she frowned. “Needless to say, our reproductive cells have been permanently altered by our therapy. We have learned to accept our procreative limitations. And given our personal longevity, most believe it’s a small price to pay.”

  “So, they’re immortal, too?”

  “Oh, no. That would be a wasted effort. We’re already prone to dementia.” She flushed again. “The children are even more susceptible. No, we must choose carefully if we wish to have children, knowing we will only watch them age and die.” Her face grew so sad, Levi would have hugged her if circumstances had been different.

  “What about other birth defects? Cystic fibrosis?”

  “Ah, yes, the reason you are here. Dr. Kaneka tells me you may have a son with the disorder?”

  He nodded, hands tightly clasped, so full of anticipation he didn’t trust his voice.

  She leaned forward with her elbows on her knees, her eyes trained on Levi’s face. “They cannot remove the defective gene from his entire body. But they could possibly perform organ cloning and transplant. Dr. Kaneka believes they might be able to reconfigure the CFTR sequence in the clonal organs, depending on the severity of the abnormality. That would relieve the worst of your son’s symptoms. But the doctors need genetic samples and access to his stem cells.”

  The pit of his stomach tightened into a hard ball of hope and despair. “You’re saying you can make him better?”

  “There are over a thousand markers for cystic fibrosis. I can’t make any promises until we see him.”

  “He’s far too sick to travel.”

  “Dr. Kaneka suggested you show us on a map where your people live, and perhaps we can arrange transportation.” She tapped the surface of the coffee table and a screen lit up the center. Scrolling through several images, she halted on a series of haphazard lines and colors. “We are here.” She pointed to a dark brown splotch next to a word he didn’t recognize.

  Kaneka leaned in, and a tremor zigzagged up Levi’s spine. Like someone was stepping on his grave, his father used to say. Rolling one shoulder and stepping away from the doctor, Levi blinked at the map.

  The drawing looked nothing like the series of landmarks the trader had sketched. “I don’t know what any of this means. I came from the east.”

  “The blue lines are major rivers. The red lines are old roadways. This way is north.” She spun the chart so north was up.

  He frowned down at the diagram, trying to make sense. “After we escaped, I just knew to head north and west toward the mountains. When we reached the reservoir, I hoped it was the landmark the salt trader talked about. Oh!” He pointed to a spot where the blue line thickened. “This could be the reservoir.”

  “Escaped … what do you mean?” Rosalee looked up at him with drawn brows.

  “The Blattvolk. They’d captured me and intended … well God knows what, but Tula pulled me from my cell and we ran.”

  “Wait, Tula — your companion — is Haldanian?” Rosa
lee rose from her chair, her voice brittle.

  Dr. Kaneka scurried toward the door.

  “You met her yesterday. You … attacked her.” Levi put his hands up, palm out toward Rosalee, remembering Tula’s warning too late. This woman hated Haldanians. “She’s not like other Blattvolk. She’s good. She almost died to save me.”

  Rosalee put both hands over her mouth. Her eyes narrowed and she focused on Dr. Kaneka. The doctor said three or four words into the grate next to the door.

  She shouted something, and Levi rose as the sound of feet came pounding down the hall. With both hands she gripped Levi’s bicep, fingernails biting into his skin as a pair of men in red tunics appeared. Looking directly into his eyes, she said, “Don’t believe a word they say.”

  One of the men darted in and pressed a silver gun to Rosalee’s neck. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she slumped into the other man’s arms.

  “What is going on?” Levi asked as the only one in the compound who could understand him was dragged, limp, from the room.

  Tula sat on the bed and flipped through the entertainment programs on the gamma pad. Nothing looked good, so she opened a game of chess. The hum of the mountain had become background noise, like an ever-present threat of a headache. The air, although not exactly stuffy, wasn’t truly fresh. Dr. Kaneka said they derived all their power from geothermal sources, which powered halogen lights to grow hydroponic foods. Recirculators scrubbed the air and underground springs provided all the water they would ever need. The only time a Fosselite ever went outside was for the yearly maintenance on the hidden cameras around the fortress.

  How could they stand it? Dr. Kaneka and the others had been holed up inside here over four hundred years. Centuries without seeing the sun or feeling the wind on their skin. Tula’s eyes ached from straining in the low light, and her lungs felt clogged in the heat and humidity of the cavern. She didn’t want to live forever if it meant never seeing the outside again. You’re assuming they’ll offer you asylum.

  Her heart turned over at the thought. Dr. Kaneka told her the committee was working on her request. She didn’t know how to admit she didn’t intend to stay – not without sounding like the reversion he accused her of being. She hoped they would support her mission to bring conversion to Levi’s people.

  She moved a knight on the virtual chessboard and watched the interactive program take her rook. She couldn’t focus. The gamma pad offered a lot of books, games, and some very old movies. But she was only interested in an answer. She needed allies.

  Rising, she straightened the new microfiber skirt the Fosselites had provided. The cobalt blue fabric would look marvelous in decent light. She longed for a string of beads or a bracelet, anything to prove someone loved her. But anyone who mattered was gone forever, and she had to make friends if she was going to ask for assistance.

  She entered the quiet hallway and headed toward a gathering hall they’d passed on the way to the room last night. The double doors stood open, and soft music floated out along with the scent of something unfamiliar. She paused at the threshold, looking over the empty circular tables. Clattering sounded from beyond another set of double doors. “Hello?” she called. The big room swallowed the sound.

  Approaching the other set of doors, she reached for the handle just as the door swung outward, causing her to jump back. A trisomy man carrying a large metal container glanced at her and continued past to a big metal cabinet with a clear plastic roof hovering over the center. As he moved, the unfamiliar smell wafted stronger around her and then waned. He set his load in a hollow apparently designed for the container and looked back to Tula. “It’s not time yet.”

  “Time for what?”

  “You can’t come until it’s time.”

  A woman stuck her head out the double doors. “Louie? Who is it? Oh!” She blinked at Tula. “What are you doing here?”

  The question wasn’t exactly unfriendly, but it had a wariness behind it that warned her she might not be welcome. “I’m … looking for Dr. Kaneka.”

  “I’ll let him know. Have a seat. Lunch is in an hour. Oh, wait, you don’t eat, right?”

  Tula smiled. “I do. Just not as much.”

  “Oh. How about tea?”

  “What is tea?”

  The woman winked at her, the first friendly gesture all day. “Louie, come get our visitor a cup of tea, please.”

  The man and woman disappeared behind the doors. The music stopped, and after a few moments, Louie came out with a cup of steaming liquid and set it on a table. He stared at her in what she thought was reproach. She sat and he set a spoon and a small bowl of golden fluid next to her.

  Without a word, he turned and left. So much for making friends. Alone with her “tea,” Tula sniffed the steam from the cup. Not unpleasant. She scooped a spoonful and tasted. Slightly bitter, like drinking dirty water. Wrinkling her nose, she pushed the cup away. Out of curiosity, she put the spoon into the other dish and paused as the substance resisted, stiff and thick. Lifting the spoon, she watched the viscous material string between the utensil and the dish. Maybe this was the “tea?” She pulled her index finger through a strand, pinching the sticky liquid between thumb and finger, and brought it to her nose. Sweet. Touching her finger to the tip of her tongue, she blinked in surprise before sucking her fingers clean. Sweeter than the candies she gave her kids.

  A large figure pushing a medical cart shuffled by the doors then stopped, drawing Tula’s attention. Michael stood outside, as if waiting for an invitation. She waved him to join her. He darted a look around the room, hesitated, and turned the cart toward her. His eyes were on her tea and she pushed both dishes toward him. “I’m waiting for Dr. Kaneka. Would you like some tea?”

  He shook his head, looking at her hands, not her face.

  Tula poked at the sticky stuff with the spoon. “I’ve never had tea. Do you think you could show me how to drink it?”

  Taking the spoon, he twirled it to make the glue-like stuff stop dripping and then stirred it into the cup of bitter liquid. “Oh. That’s what that’s for.” She laughed. “This is the tea?” She lifted the cup.

  He nodded, a shy smile playing about his lips.

  Tula sipped the sweetened liquid and found it much improved. She smacked her lips. “Delicious.” She preferred the sweetener alone, but didn’t want to appear ungrateful.

  The woman from the other room appeared again. “Hello, Michael. Your father is on his way.”

  He scuffed his feet and put his hands back on the cart.

  “I’d love him to stay.” Tula looked at the woman.

  “He doesn’t talk.” The woman waved him off.

  “Michael and I communicate very well.” Tula turned a bright smile his way. After her initial fear of the big man, she’d come to appreciate his protectiveness.

  A flush crept up his neck and he grinned, turning his face half to the side.

  The woman raised her brows, shrugged, and returned to the other room.

  “Come sit with me, Michael.” Tula pointed to the chair next to her.

  He remained rooted in place, hands on the cart.

  “If you want to.” She was accustomed to the shyness of cannibal prisoners. She had to approach them from the side, let them think the decision to communicate was theirs.

  Michael let go of the cart and wiped his enormous palms on his thighs, but remained standing.

  “You are supposed to be working, is that it?”

  He nodded and toyed with the keycard around his neck.

  “Well, I’m glad you could stop by and say hello. I don’t want you to get in trouble. Maybe I could sit with you at the meal later?”

  His brows rose and he snuck a look at her. The long planes of his face perpetually drooped, but she saw gratefulness. He nodded.

  Dr. Kaneka appeared at the doorway, and Michael grabbed the cart. The doctor gave him a hard glance and turned his attention to Tula. “I hope he was not bothering you?”

  “Not at al
l. I asked him to sit down, but he said he had work to do.” Tula waved her fingers goodbye at Michael but he was so focused on the doors, he didn’t see her.

  Dr. Kaneka pulled out a chair but did not sit. “You and the man you arrived with are close.”

  Tula flushed, knowing he meant last night. “I know it’s unethical to be intimate with patients, but he ceased being my patient the moment Vitus sentenced him to death.” She had no regrets about being with Levi.

  “How well can you communicate?” He held a gamma pad in one hand, his other resting on the back of the empty chair.

  “Rudimentary word usage and a lot of body language. Why?”

  “I have given some thought to your request for asylum.”

  Her heart lurched as she realized this was an interview, not a social visit. She had to make herself look valuable. “I am quite good at interfacing with cannibals, and in Confinement, I’m the only one Levi would talk to. And that was after a lot —”

  He waved the gamma pad to halt her. “We have no need for a Conversion Psychiatrist, but we may have another use for you.” Placing the pad on the table in front of her, he stood behind her shoulder. The photoelectric image of a brain glowed purple across the screen, tiny data points printed below. He pointed to several white spots at the center of the image deep inside the two lobes of the brain. “See these lesions in the hippocampus? Telomerase cannot pass through the blood brain barrier to heal aging cells. Our brains are vulnerable to old-age diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and other dementia. For over four hundred years our bodies have not aged. But our brains are another matter. Our time is running out.”

  “That’s —” She didn’t know what to say. Horrible was not a strong enough word. “How can I help?”

  Kaneka pulled out the chair next to her and sat with his hands folded on the table. “When we encountered the Haldanians several decades ago, we discovered telomerase aided the uptake of chloroplasts during cell conversion. And during telomerase repair, your chloroplasts release a specific steroid which can penetrate the blood brain barrier and dissolve abnormal protein deposits and aging cells from brain tissue without harming surrounding cells.” He touched the screen to zoom in on some white spots within the center of the image. “These lesions are prior to injection of Haldanian steroids.” He changed to another image. “Here is the same brain after one week of treatment.”