“That’s the Prime Minster of Tasma. I’ve met him once before,” said Michael.
Shen-Lung and the prime minister received and returned official greetings with handshakes, nods, and smiles, and as they did so, the reality of finally being free of the regions started to sink into my soul. Victoria cooed and I kissed her forehead. Michael slipped his hand into mine, his gentle touch relaxing me, but then something strange happened.
Another limo pulled up alongside the prime minister’s, and a moment later Mia left her post behind me and ushered Shen-Lung and his men into it. Shen-Lung appeared confused, his forehead wrinkling while he shook his head. Though they were too far away for me to hear what they were saying, by reading his lips I was pretty sure he asked Mia about the second limo.
“That’s weird,” I whispered to Michael as the limo pulled away. The tinted windows made it impossible to see Shen-Lung’s face, but I flashed a questioning look as it passed, hoping he would note my concern. “You’d think we’d ride together.”
“He’s a president. They’re always given special treatment.”
“Miss Dannacher. Dr. Bennett,” said the prime minister as he came forward. With long, determined strides, Mia returned to take her post behind me. The prime minister wore a dark-blue suit, white collared shirt, and dark tie—attire I hadn’t seen since before the clones had awakened me from cryogenic stasis. A middle-age man of Australian aboriginal descent, he was handsome for his age, and despite the sophisticated tone of his voice and lift of his chin when he spoke, his dark eyes were earnest and fatherly.
“Welcome. I’m Gabriel Heath the…” The prime minister’s jaw dropped. He drew in a small, sharp breath, and as he did so, his eyes never left mine.
“Is there something wrong?” I asked.
‘No, no. I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head. “I apologize. I’m just a bit overwhelmed. This is the first time a president of a region has stepped foot on Tasma since your Founding Fathers established their post-plague constitution…”
“Not my Founding Fathers,” I interrupted. “My Founding Fathers died over 1,200 years ago.”
“Yes, that is right. I do apologize, Miss”—he paused—“Dannacher,” he said slowly, and after the next breath, focused his eyes directly on mine, this time with a gaze so intense it was as if he was searching my soul for an answer. An answer to what, I didn’t know.
“Prime Minister?” asked Michael. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, again I apologize. It is such an honor to have all three presidents here that—”
“It makes you a bit nervous,” I interrupted.
“Actually”—he chuckled—“I was going to say that their presence, along with yours, has brought a level of excitement to Autonomy that we haven’t had since we gained our independence from the regions.”
“Autonomy?” I asked.
“Yes, we have renamed our great state to something more fitting. In the eyes of the region’s three presidents, we are savages, but I will tell both of you this: we don’t need bots, flying cars, or bands on our wrists to make us a civilized nation and a democratic one at that.”
Mia’s posture stiffened.
“Prime Minister Heath,” I said, taking a step forward. “Michael and I have been lied to on more than one occasion. We’ve been deceived. We’ve been manipulated. I don’t trust the presidents, not even Shen-Lung, and I think you should know that I don’t trust you.”
“Cassie,” whispered Michael with lips that barely moved.
“It’s all right, Dr. Bennett. She’s being honest, and after reading Shen-Lung’s report and the portion of the Van Winkle files I’ve been given access to, I don’t blame her.”
“We expected to be reunited with our daughters the moment we landed,” said Michael, “and the fact that they’re not here is very disappointing. It’s making both of us question the presidents’ agreement.”
“I’m sorry they’re not here, but I spoke to President Shen-Lung myself, and he assured me that the delay was unintentional. Your daughters are slated to arrive tomorrow morning. The president gave me his word that there wouldn’t be any further postponements.”
“So we’ve been told,” I sneered.
Was this going to be the first of many disappointments? What if the genetics lab, the facility itself, and its equipment didn’t meet our standards? And what about our housing units? I could only hope mine would be more twenty-first century-ish than the apartments in GenH1.
The prime minister’s upper lip twitched. “Now, if you would kindly do me the honor…” He gestured for us to follow him. “We’re holding a reception lunch at the governor’s mansion on your behalf prior to the signing of the treaty. You’ll be staying at the mansion as well until your permanent living quarters are prepared.” Prime Minister Heath leaned toward Victoria and smiled down at her before we reached the limousine.
“Cassie, it’s okay to be leery of their intentions. I’m leery, too, but there’s no reason to be rude to the prime minister,” whispered Michael as he walked beside me. “If anyone is innocent in all of this, it’s him.”
“That might be true, but I’ll be rude if I want to be rude. We’re calling the shots this time. I don’t want Heath to forget that. I want it instilled in his brain from the very beginning. I want him to know that we’re not going to take any more crap,” I said, perturbed as someone from Heath’s security team opened the limo door for us.
It was time to exercise a little authority and let everyone know I deserved and expected my independence. After being imprisoned in a genetics lab and held against my will—and artificially inseminated twice—I was going to do everything and anything to keep that from happening again. Ever. I needed to demonstrate to everyone I’d risk it all to keep my three daughters and myself free.
“Actually, if there’s time,” I said to Heath, “I’d like to stop by the lab first.” Mia’s eyebrows came together. “And I’d also like to see where Michael and I will be residing.”
“Miss Dannacher,” said Mia, her voice as slick and tight as her bun. “You are on a strict schedule, so…”
“I’m on my schedule,” I said. “Don’t forget. We’re not in one of the regions anymore. I’m no longer banded, and I’m not under anyone’s authority except my own.”
“I’d like to see it, too,” said Michael. “I’m sure the lab has changed since I last worked there.”
“But it’s for your own safety,” Mia said while breathing heavily through her nose. “And you are expected soon at the reception.”
“There’s plenty of time for Miss Dannacher to make an appearance at the reception,” said Heath. “And I can assure you that she will be quite safe. I give my full trust to the genetics team on site. You can tour the facility and your living quarters now, and I can meet you at the Governor’s mansion.”
“Then it is settled,” said Michael as the driver loaded our bags in the trunk.
“Thank you,” I said to Heath.
Michael slid into the back seat and watched as I strapped Victoria into a car seat. Mia took the seat next to the driver. “So, this is a limo,” said Michael.
“It is. How did you know?” I asked.
“While you were still in the hospital at GenH1 you told me about prom, remember?”
“Yeah, I do, but I’m surprised you remembered.” My annoyance toward Michael dissolved.
“How could I forget?” He slid into the limousine next to me and leaned his head on my shoulder. Until I learned he was keeping so many secrets from me, I’d crushed hard on him. He never understood why I spurned him after that, why I hadn’t embraced the clone philosophy of “Life is Precious” and hated the Van Winkle Project. But once he came to realize how brainwashed he’d been with his isolated upbringing, he put his life and career on the line to save Victoria and me. I hadn’t forgiven him totally, but I’d never quite gotten over my feelings for him. I trusted him with Victoria’s and my safety. But not yet my heart.
Michae
l continued, “I researched limousines on my Liaison after I left your room that day. In your century, they were also the primary mode of transportation for a bride and groom on their wedding day,” he said against my neck, placing his hand on top of mine. Was that some kind of hint? When his warm breath hit my neck, my chest ignited with heat despite the fact that the last thing I wanted to talk about or think about was marriage.
I’d never fallen for anyone based solely upon looks, but it was hard not to want Michael for a boyfriend just for the simple fact that he was beyond hot. And as I stared at his profile, watching him blink against the sun coming through the window, I told myself over and over again that this guy was the father of a set of twins who were mine, and Michael wanted to help me raise Victoria.
On our ride to the lab we passed several beach-side cities. Some were abandoned, the neighborhoods in ruin, while others thrived, their citizens like walking beacons of prosperity and hope. They strolled the sidewalks hand-in-hand with children cloned from whatever ancient DNA still remained or drove through the streets the old-fashioned way in cars with wheels that stayed on the ground.
“This reminds me of home,” I said, taking a deep breath of salty air as it entered the limo’s vents.
“I told you it would. Tasma is as close to pre-plague times as you can get.”
“But why so many ghost towns?”
“Ghost towns?”
“Yeah, abandoned cities.”
“Just like the regions, Tasma lost half of its population due to the plague. Since they don’t have their own cloning program, they have to take what the three regions can spare. So far it hasn’t been enough to bring their population to the same level it was before the plague. And since they’ve been unable to clone organs”—he sighed—“every month they lose a high percentage of their citizens.”
“Organ failure, the one genetic flaw with every clone. But now with you here a lot of lives will be saved when we replicate organs.” I smiled at Michael.
He took my hand and gave it a squeeze.
The signal light ahead of us turned yellow, then red, and the limo slowed to a stop.
“Hey, is that a pre or post-plague cemetery?” I asked.
To my left and upon a rolling hill of grass, a tiny cemetery loomed behind a rusty, wrought-iron fence, Many of the tombstones were crumbled, unreadable, and discolored by the weather, making the cemetery haunted-house creepy, like something from a horror film.
“Pre-plague, but we hadn’t gotten to that one yet,” said Michael. “That’s another reason why I flew here often. With the promise that the DNA collected would be used to clone babies specifically for Tasma, Heath allowed us to harvest any salvageable DNA. They didn’t, and still don’t have the technology to produce clones on their own, and the regional governments wouldn’t give it to them.”
“Of course they wouldn’t,” I said. “What better way to keep the Tasmians compliant than to give them babies they’d cloned in exchange for their continued silence and promise not to leave Tasma?”
“And they had to go along with that. If they didn’t, their population would have dwindled and died out.” Michael shook his head. “What they didn’t know was that the regions’ population was threatened with extinction, too, until we were able to successfully revive you. Thankfully, because of you, that’s not going to happen now.”
“As long as they allow us to conduct the new Van Winkle Project the way we want.” I still didn’t believe our plans wouldn’t be sabotaged.
“Damn,” said Michael.
“What?”
“I’m just wondering what GenH1 did with the DNA we took from Tasma’s cemeteries. DNA we need here to advance our organ cloning studies. I don’t know if the presidents lied to Heath and planned to use it for the regions instead.”
“No kidding. I wouldn’t put it past them to have done that.”
The light switched to green, and the limo continued for another mile or so.
“Hey, wasn’t that nice?” I asked when the limo rolled to a stop. “During the entire trip our wheels never left the ground, not even once.” I laughed.
“Actually, that ride was a bit too bumpy for me.”
“Believe me, that wasn’t bumpy. Try off-roading in a jeep when you’re headed to a dinosaur dig.” Like I often did with my mom before I’d been injured so badly in a helicopter accident that they cryogenically preserved my body. I still wondered if my family would have done that, if they’d known all that would happen to me once I was revived…
The lab was a two-story building of gray cement blocks—very twenty-first century.
“This is it,” said Michael as I lifted Victoria from her car seat and then stood while shielding my eyes from the sun with my hand.
“So, this is where you conducted your research,” I said, shading Victoria’s face with the corner of her blanket.
We walked toward the double glass doors, and when we were close the doors slid open like the entrance to a grocery store. Mia was at my heels with one hand snug in her pocket.
“Yeah, we had high hopes that our hypothesis were true, that some of the women here were able to reproduce, but they ended up being as infertile as any female clone in the regions.” Michael frowned.
“It’s still so hard for me to believe that the presidents have been able to keep Tasma a secret.”
“That’s understandable, considering that you grew up 1,004 years ago, but it isn’t for me. Like everyone else who wasn’t privy, I grew up believing that traveling south of Sector Nine was off-limits due to the area’s high winds, tornadoes, and whirlpools. I was as naive as everyone else until I was selected to conduct the fertility testing here.” We stepped into the lobby. “I don’t agree with it,” he continued, “but, in a way, I understand why the forefathers didn’t want the public to know about Tasma. If they knew a group of people had survived the plague and created their own democracy, the regioners might have tried to do the same by overthrowing the newly-selected presidents.”
Michael directed us to the main lab. “It’s a bit archaic, but it’ll do.”
“It looks high-tech to me,” I said. “This is what I’m used to.”
It looked like the facility behind the scenes at any natural history museum or forensic lab during my time. Rows of metal tables topped with microscopes and equipment I couldn’t identify filled the center of the room while large, white-paneled machines the size of twentieth-century commercial copiers lined the walls.
He shot between a set of tables, opening the cabinets beneath them, one at a time, and slamming them closed. “Where are the supplies I ordered? I can’t clone organs with what they have here.” He slapped his hands against the table in front of him, and a dull twang of flesh against steel echoed through the room.
“Dr. Bennett,” said Mia just as I was about to make a snarky remark about my trust in the regions being stretched as far as it could go. “Remember that flights in and out of here are limited. It may take weeks for everything you need to be delivered. I’m sure it’ll arrive soon. ”
“It better,” he huffed.
A man in a white coat holding what Michael would call an archaic, hand-held laptop entered the lab. “Coby,” said Michael. “It’s great to see you again.”
We made our introductions, and Coby joined us for the rest of the tour, Michael dictating a list of additional items he’d need for the program and Coby typing it into the tablet.
While we walked the halls, I imagined myself working alongside Michael, cloning and taking care of the newly-grown organs, but also how I’d be pregnant and giving birth over and over again for most of my adult life.
A sick feeling trickled through my body as I held Victoria and imagined her at sixteen and pregnant, following in my footsteps to fulfill her duty to save the world. But next I pictured what life would be like if the Van Winkle Project remained in the regions and not in Tasma and under my control. If so, I wouldn’t be allowed to raise my daughters, and instead of prospering a
nd holding pride in a program to sustain humanity, my girls would live the sheltered, monotonous life of a broodmare, hidden away from the world in tiny, windowless apartments so the clones had no idea how close they’d come to extinction.
“Do you want to see where you’ll be living?” asked Coby. “I was there earlier today, checking it out. I also live in West Hobart.”
“Yeah,” Michael and I said at the same time.
“West Hobart,” I whispered, thankful that in Tasma, towns still had names and not numbers.
The neighborhood he took us to was a three minute walk from the lab. Mia shot me a few disapproving glares as we traveled, but at least she kept her mouth shut.
“Oh, I love it,” I announced when Coby pointed to two homes nestled next door to each other.
Like all of the houses in that neighborhood, the bottom floors were brick and the top floors sided with wood. Unlike the houses in the regions, the roofs were tiled with slate instead of metal sheeting.
We took a peek at my home first. The inside was just as adorable as its exterior, with its cozy, but updated kitchen and arched doorways. The furniture was plain but comfortable, and I appreciated the fact that the walls were a yellowish beige instead of white, which would have continually reminded me of my hospital room at GenH1.
“The rest of your furniture is due to arrive within the next couple days,” explained Cody when we stood in the doorway of Victoria’s empty room. “And your telephones are going to be installed tomorrow.”
Michael scratched the top of his head. “Telephones?” he asked, but I didn’t bother to explain. He’d just have to wait and see one for himself.
“I absolutely adore this place,” I said when we returned to the kitchen. I grabbed Michael’s hand and pulled him closer to me. He didn’t smile, which was something he always did when I touched him. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“It’s just so different. I mean, what’s that?” He pointed.
“That’s the oven.” I laughed. “Now you know how I felt after I was awakened. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”
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