by S. L. Viehl
“Did I mention the shipment of biosamples that began to migrate and grow all over the cargo bay walls?” Dhreen changed the subject, then winked at me. “Plenty of excitement jaunting the routes, Doc.”
“I think I’ll be content with the FreeClinic, thanks,” was my dry response. “It may be dull, but I’ll live longer.”
“You think so? I heard you had a near-cry with some Hsktskt raiders.”
“A close call—and it turned out to be seven of them.” I described the delivery of the quints.
Dhreen hiccuped for at least two minutes before he asked me, “Is there anyone you won’t treat, Doc?”
“Overly verbal Oenrallians,” I said, then chuckled.
“Chief Linguist, what do you think?” Dhreen turned to Reever. “Word has it the desk jaunters were pretty spaced about the deal.”
Reever folded his hands behind his neck, and regarded me with the usual indifference. “Dr. Grey Veil believes in her oath.”
“Sometimes there is only what we believe in,” I said.
Reever’s eyes closed. “Beliefs,” he replied, “are fragile at best.”
Dhreen poured another round of spicewine and offered us a meal, but I shook my head.
“Enough for me,” I said as I stood. “I think I’ll go take in the view.”
“E.T.A. thirty minutes,” Dhreen told me.
A half hour later I turned from the viewer to find Reever right behind me. It was so much like the moment when Kao Torin had surprised me at the Hall of Art and Expression that I recoiled in shock.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that!” Our bodies brushed as I moved past him, and for a moment I was convinced he meant to try that link business again. “No, Reever! Absolutely not!”
“I could learn more about what it means to be human.” Reever’s tone was logical, almost insinuating.
“Yeah, well, you’ll have to do it without taking over another human,” I said as I strapped in once more. “Try accessing the database instead.”
Landing, biodecon, and admittance to the Visitor Center only took a short interval. Dhreen promised to meet us later that day and left us at the entrance to our lodging.
“Wow.” I stood with my mouth open, while the chief linguist waited beside me.
The building was implausible, fantastic, and not a little disarming. The exterior had been constructed to appear like a cascading waterfall of large, semitransparent bubbles, sprinkled with small oases of plants and smooth-rounded stones.
I took a deep breath, and the floral-scented air seemed to permeate my blood, making me rather dizzy.
“If you’re finished admiring the exterior?” Reever said at last, and indicated I proceed him.
“Oh, I forgot.” I glared as I stalked past. “You’ve been here before, and spent the whole time measuring the place.”
I was relieved to see the interior had a more traditional design. Those bubble things were pretty, but impossible for a Terran to navigate. At the reception portal we were greeted by the resident Caszarian innkeeper, who jumped from a small opening up to the desk.
“Welcome, esteemed guests,” the toy-sized, black-spotted feline creature said. Jenner would have gone crazy over her. “I’m Mherrr, your hostess. Please let me know at any time how I may enhance your stay with us.”
I had to fight the urge to request a room as far away from Reever as she could put me.
We were directed to our individual quarters, which of course were next to each other on an upper floor.
“I’m surprised Ana didn’t make us share,” I muttered outside my room.
Reever heard me and looked over. “If you prefer—”
I sighed. “It was a joke, Chief Linguist.”
My room was all cool blue and cream shades. The soft, free-formed furnishings possessed no corners or geometric shape to them. A place to be soothed and relaxed.
Luxury had some merits, I decided. I sat down on the edge of my bed. A moan of pleasure escaped me as I sank back on the feathery mattress. I could use two days of sleep. My door panel chimed just as my eyes closed.
I forgot to be polite. “What?”
“Delivery for you, Dr. Grey Veil.”
I opened the door and found yet another Caszarian conveying a stack of carriers on an anti-grav pallet. The small feline left them in the room and refused my offer of gratuity credits.
“No need, Doctor.” He bowed with a smile and withdrew.
The bewildering number of cartons made me surrender to impulse to be a kid and rip them all open. A few minutes later I stood ankle-deep in wrapping. Scattered around me were beautiful garments, elegant footwear, even small jeweled accessories for my hair, ears, wrists, and throat. There was a disc, too.
When I played it, Ana’s face appeared on the screen.
“Surprise!” she laughed. “I thought you might try to sleep through the whole vacation, so I’m sending you some outfits to wear. No one will see them if you stay in your room,” she said. “Enjoy yourself, Joey.”
“I’d enjoy the sleep more,” I told the screen.
“You’re probably mad about Duncan being there,” Ana’s message continued. “I confess, I decided to arrange for you both to spend time together away from the colony. I’ve sensed something between you two since the day you met.”
“Right idea, wrong man.”
“There’s another reason I sent him with you, Cherijo. I know you’ve been seeing that handsome Jorenian pilot, but you probably don’t know that his people bond for life.”
“Wrong again.”
“There’s nothing wrong with exploring other options,” she said, as if she’d heard me. “You should know Duncan has some powerful feelings toward you.”
“Sure he does,” I said. “He wants my brain.” Too bad for Reever the rest of me was attached to it.
“Forgive a friend for interfering,” Ana said. “Wear the scarlet dress tonight. Let yourself be a woman instead of a physician.” She winked. “See you in two rotations.”
I’d seen the red outfit, what there was of it. I had no intention of putting it on and parading myself in front of Reever. It would be ludicrous.
I kept repeating that even after I got out of the cleansing unit, dried off, and pulled the silky material over my head. The soft, bloodred triangles and folds swirled around me as I walked to the mirror.
Was that me?
After careful study of my image, I decided the garment didn’t show too much skin. Maybe I would wear it. No doubt the meal intervals would be thick with other females wearing their best. A physician’s tunic here would make me look awkward.
“Be a woman instead of a physician,” I told my reflection. The physician in the scarlet dress peered back at me dubiously. “Okay, try to be a woman.”
I sorted through the glittering accessories, trying to guess what would complement the dress. Medtech had never offered a course in fashion, much to my present regret. I stuck with red sparkling things. It seemed safest.
I started to braid my hair again, then looked in the mirror. Most Terran females left their tresses loose when they socialized. I brushed it out, then checked my image again. Long, straight grey-sheened black spilled over my shoulders and back. Not very inventive, but it would have to do.
Dhreen and Reever were waiting for me by the fountain outside the lodging. The elevated heels on my feet required a slow pace. Even my posture seemed to change as I walked toward them. I held myself differently, the way a woman did when she knew she looked appealing. Or when she suspected her footgear was going to make her trip and fall flat on her face.
Dhreen let out a low, lecherous whistle. “Doc, is that you?” he said, and I smacked him lightly on the arm.
“Behave,” I said, then turned to Reever. A small part of me was gratified to see the chief linguist’s eyes were riveted to a spot just below my collarbone. It wasn’t an area that usually got me much attention. “Reever,” I greeted him regally.
“You have a great deal of your body displayed,�
�� he said.
I wasn’t going to let him aggravate me. “That’s the point of wearing a dress like this, Chief Linguist.”
“And what a dress!” Dhreen said, looping his arm through mine. “Let’s go. You’ll really blind the tourists, Doc.”
“Dazzle, Dhreen. Dazzle.”
The three of us made a short tour of the many dining establishments, and chose one. After the smiling Caszarian proprietor led us to a table, Reever pulled out my chair for me.
He leaned close as I sat down. “I’ve never seen your hair released before. Is it all yours?”
“I didn’t purchase any of it,” I said. “Of course it’s my hair.” I thought I felt his hand brush over the thick mass covering my neck. “Knock it off.”
The menu listed so many delicious entrees that I couldn’t make a choice. In the end I ordered an Oenrallian entree that Dhreen recommended.
“Follow that with chocolate mousse,” I added for dessert.
Dhreen looked intrigued. “What’s chocolate mousse?”
“Something wonderfully delectable and terribly bad for you.”
“Make that two,” Dhreen said.
We were served a vintage Terran spicewine, but I only took a few sips before resorting to a nonalcoholic tea. With Reever only inches from my side, I needed all brain cells fully operational.
Throughout the meal I was aware that our trio drew a great deal of attention from the other patrons. Noted, too, that the chief linguist and I were the only Terrans present. Nothing like standing out in the crowd. Some of the species present I recognized from patients I’d treated back at the facility. Others were new to me, and more than once I caught myself staring. I had to stop doing that.
Dhreen served as a buffer between me and Reever as he kept up a running account of his last jaunt. “So I told the passenger, we go now or you pay me to make a return jaunt,” Dhreen ended the story, “and he said, I’ll pay you three times your rate to take my mate and tell her you lost me!”
I laughed.
Reever, whose attention had wandered from our conversation, was staring across the room. Something was wrong, I thought as I glanced at him. He wasn’t moving, and his pupils were dilated.
“Are you feeling all right?” I touched his arm and discovered the muscles under my fingers tensed to plasteel-hardness. “Reever?”
Wintry blue eyes bored into me while his hand lifted and closed over mine. At the same time I felt the full blast of his thoughts as Reever linked with me.
Don’t fight me. We’re in danger.
What are you talking about? Danger from what?
The male by the entrance door. He’s been watching you. Reever projected the image into my thoughts. It was a grey-fleeced, nondescript creature studying a menu.
He looks pretty harmless.
He is a Terran disguised as a Dervling. Here for you from the homeworld.
Here for me?
Reever stood and pulled me up with him. I wasn’t in charge of my body anymore.
Dhreen, who was oblivious to our silent mental bond, dropped his knife in surprise. “Hey, the food isn’t that bad—”
“Dhreen, excuse us,” Reever said. “We have a private matter to attend to.”
The chief linguist hauled me out of the entrance and into the open walkways. I managed to glance back and saw the sheep-like Dervling following behind us. The link between Duncan Reever and my mind grew stronger with every step.
What does he want?
You. He plans to kill me and take you.
How can we stop him?
Come with me, quickly.
He led me through a series of labyrinthine passages between the lodgings while the alien behind us raced to keep up. After one sharp turn Reever whirled me around and pressed me into a doorway, shielding me with his body.
I won’t let him touch you, but I need your help.
I knew what kind of help he was talking about. This is a bad idea, Reever—
Yield to me. Yield to me, and I can protect you.
I can’t—
Cherijo! Now!
Sullenly I let down the last of the barriers and felt the silent torrent of Reever’s mind flood into me. The Dervling rushed by us, only to turn back and peer at the doorway.
Through our link I sensed Reever drawing something from me, then projecting an alien thought pattern. Our link split as he entered the mind of our pursuer. Like a front-row spectator, I watched as Reever implanted some kind of illusion. An image of the two of us, rushing down the corridor ahead of the intruder.
The Dervling shook his head as if to clear it before pivoting and hurrying off after the phantom pair. When he was gone, I regained control of my limbs and sagged in relief against Reever.
That was close.
Yes. Did you actually collide with a glidecab so you could leave Terra on schedule?
How did you— I threw up the barriers again, even though it was too late. Out. He was everywhere inside me. Right now.
He turned me in his arms, still inside my head, and I saw down into an infinite space occupied by a thousand alien worlds. In every scene was Reever, reflected over and over. It meant something important. At once I was engulfed by a deep, torturous sensation of need. It was as if Reever wanted to—
The link ended.
“We will return to our rooms,” he said. I was too shaken to argue. He took my arm and led me into the lodging.
I didn’t pull away until he keyed my door panel and pushed me into the room. He followed and secured the door behind him.
“Thanks for helping me,” I said, “but I don’t think—”
Reever sat down and folded his arms. “Tell me exactly what you are.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Chief Linguist.” I prepared a stimulating hot drink. Maybe he wouldn’t notice my hands were shaking. I gulped it down and promptly burned my mouth. He refused when I offered him the same. He had that “I’m going to wait until the end of time” look on his face. “I don’t,” I said.
“Tell me about the experiment, Cherijo.”
“What experiment would that be? I’ve been doing all sorts—”
“Your father’s experiment. I saw the memories during our link,” he said.
Turning my back on him, I shoved the server into the cleansing unit. “The only experiments I know about are the ones I’ve been performing on K-2.”
“You can’t lie to me.”
I walked over to the wide viewer panel and stared at nothing. I hadn’t been thinking about it. He couldn’t know. “I can’t tell you.”
“Tell me.”
I turned. “Reever—” I couldn’t lie to him. He had been in the deepest recesses of my mind. He’d seen plenty. “You wouldn’t believe me if I did.”
“I will.”
I turned my head and tried to find some comfort in the starry vista beyond me. To say it was in a sense being forced to accept it. Now and for all time.
“I’m not human.”
I told Reever about the contents of the package I had received shortly before I left the homeworld. Someone had sent me dozens of data discs, vidlogs, and biosample tubes of blood, tissue, and unfamiliar chemical compounds. “Every detail of the experiment had been meticulously observed, examined, and recorded. For nearly three decades.”
“What was this experiment?” Reever asked.
“My father called it Comprehensive Human Enhancement Research. He used his own DNA to encode a fertilized ovum once the natural genetic material was removed. During the zygote and embryonic stages, he used a battery of chemical and organic manipulatives to further enhance the DNA. All genetic codes were identified, then most of them were dissected, enhanced, recombined, or replaced entirely.”
“He cloned himself, then refined the clone.”
“Yes.” I was pacing back and forth. “His goals weren’t restricted to mere refinement, however. He planned to eliminate susceptibility to all disease and infection. Undesirable physical char
acteristics were discarded, but the main goal was intelligence modification. Theoretically, higher brain function would exceed normal human capacity by at least fifty percent.”
“What happened?”
“After several failures, it worked. Long-term analysis of the tenth trial specimen confirmed his success. The ‘J’ series prototype was highly intelligent, intuitive, capable of advanced comprehension and memory retention, immune to infection and disease. In essence, the ultimate physician.”
“You are the prototype.”
“Yes.” My pacing picked up speed. “Dad’s single greatest achievement in genetic engineering.”
He frowned. “You indicated your parent used his own cells for the experiment.”
“You mean, why wasn’t I born Joseph Junior?” I smiled acidly. “The first nine male clones didn’t develop properly in his embryonic chamber. It was easy to genetically alter my gender from male to female. He also planned to use me as an incubator for future . . . siblings, giving a whole new spin on the Terran concept of incest.”
“Why?”
I stopped and spread out my hands. “The same reason he had for doing all of it. To see if he could.”
Reever considered this. “Why would he experiment on human DNA in an era when genetic conservation on Terra was at fanatical levels?”
I laughed outright. “He deliberately introduced the legislation so he would have a clear field, even if it meant he had to break his own law. He gives new meaning to the term egomaniac.”
“Legislation still prohibits all human fetal genetic improvements and modifications,” Reever said.
I began pacing again. “Somehow I don’t think he’s worried about getting arrested, Reever.”
The chief linguist asked a few pertinent questions but remained mostly silent during my recounting of the events that led to my transfer and subsequent contacts with my father.
In the end I gazed steadily at him. “That’s all I know.”
“Your father demanded you return to Terra. Perhaps he is the one who sent the imposter tonight.”
“You’re probably right.” I rubbed tired hands against tired eyes. “No one else has a better motive.”
“What will you do?”
“What can I do?” I said, impatient now. “Do you know what will happen if I go back to Terra?”