The Eve Genome

by Joanne Brothwell

  I didn’t want to hear that I looked like my dead, drunken grandfather who, on a drunken whim, did experiments on people without so much as a second thought.

  “Kalan, you must see how crucial our discoveries are to science, to society, to what we know about human genetics,” Malcolm said.

  Obviously he was right back at it. I was getting to that point with him where I wasn’t sure how much longer I could go without punching him. Part of me wanted to wait and test it out. “I can see that arguing this point with you is about as useful as arguing with a drunk, so I’m going to walk away.”

  “You misunderstand me, Kalan,” Malcolm said. “You have at least half your DNA from me and your grandfather. Surely you have some interest in the power of science?”

  “Not really, no.” I turned to walk away. “It doesn’t intrigue me to think about ways I can destroy people’s lives and do it for my own benefit, no. I’m also not interested in what you have to say, either.”

  “I’m sorry about the way we had to retrieve your sample, Kalan.” I stopped in my tracks and looked back. Malcolm’s expression was a careful attempt to look sympathetic, but it only served to make my blood boil. “But you did have the option your brother chose. Voluntary.”

  Marcus shrugged, but didn’t look pleased. I was well aware of how every set of eyes were fixed on me. My guts soured with realization. Adriana’s eggs had probably been fertilized by Marcus’s sperm as well as mine.

  “I’m afraid the electro-ejaculator is unpleasant, and for that, I am sorry, son,” Malcolm said.

  My face burned and my hands started to shake as humiliation and the horror of that memory hit me like a gale force wind. Adriana’s eyes widened. I lost it. I pulled my elbow back and with the speed and power I’d never tapped into before, I slammed my fist into Malcolm’s jaw. The crunch of bones vibrated through my knuckles as his head flung backward. Someone in the room gasped. Malcolm’s head dangled forward, a massive internal bleed spreading on the left side of his face. His mouth hung open and blood dripped onto his pants.

  “You don’t know what the word sorry even means,” I said through gritted teeth. I grabbed Malcolm by the throat. His eyes were glassy and unfocused. “You will shut your fucking mouth. Do you hear me? I don’t want to hear one more fucking word from you.”

  Malcolm nodded feebly. I let go. The tension in the motel room was unbearable.

  “I have a plan,” I said.

  “People should decide for themselves if there is a clear medical advantage, individual benefit or public good, to be found in handing over our entire genome for purposes far beyond our knowledge. In order to do this, more transparency, more public engagement, is vital.”

  -Ethics and Genetics

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  ADRIANA SINCLAIR

  Kalan continued to surprise me. From the mild, self-conscious guy I met a mere few days ago, to this incredibly powerful man he was now, it was hard for my mind to merge the two versions of the same person. He glared down at his father, his posture strong and firm, his jaw set and his eyes hard and cold as winter ice.

  What drove the change home was seeing the way he dealt with Malcolm. Kalan obviously had been far more traumatized than he cared to admit, and the violence he’d unleashed on Malcolm proved it. Part of me was scared at the realization of the magnitude of Kalan’s strength and temper, especially because I was certain he was moderating his reaction because of the audience watching. The heinous nature of the crime his father orchestrated against him was reprehensible.

  Last night Kalan seemed… distracted. It was temporary and fleeting, but now that I knew what happened to him back at the lab, I had to wonder if he was suffering the after-effects of having been sexually violated. Undoubtedly, something like that would affect performance.

  The thought of it felt like a hand was inside my chest and squeezing my heart. But I knew Kalan didn’t want my pity. That was the last thing he wanted from me. I could see in his face the way he looked after I realized what had happened, that he wished I’d never even found out.

  Were my feelings about the situation more about me and my neediness? Here I was, worried about him, when he clearly didn’t want or appreciate my concern. Maybe this was about me and my fear of people getting hurt. My fear of losing the people I love.

  When I dug deeper, I knew there was one truth I couldn’t deny. Despite my desire to shake my insecurity, I couldn’t stop how I felt about Kalan any more than I could stop my need for oxygen. An old song popped into my head, my grandmother’s favorite. Oh, love is a many-splendored thing!

  I put it all out of my mind. Right now, with the fierce look in his eye, and the sharp angle of his jaw, he didn’t appear to need any sympathy at all.

  “I want to get my embryos,” I said. “I want them preserved. They’re ours, they’re our children and we have to protect them, no matter what.”

  Tait glared at Marcus. “Look what you’ve done.” The blame dripped from his every word. “You brought them to this monster!”

  Marcus rolled his eyes. “Hey, I had no idea my old man was an even bigger cock than I am.”

  Tait let out a disgusted huff of air and turned his back on Marcus. A smile crept across Marcus’s face, but there was fleeting emotion that passed through his eyes. An emotion I couldn’t place….

  Kalan levelled his gaze on Marcus. “What about the eggs?”

  Marcus gave Kalan a bored expression, and then picked a piece of lint off his grey shirt. He blinked lazily. “I don’t know. Part of me likes the idea of little Adrianas and Marcuses in the world.” He winked at me and my lip involuntarily curled back from my teeth. This appeared to amuse Marcus immensely. “Of course, I’m not letting Eros have them.”

  Kalan was once again nearly vibrating with anger. “Those eggs were taken without her consent, Marcus. Just because you willingly jacked off for your old man doesn’t give you the right to control the outcome of what happens to her genetic material.”

  Marcus burst out in laughter. “You make it sound disgustingly incestuous, brother.” He turned to address me. “I suppose we have one goal in common. Neither of us wants Eros to have those eggs. So, we will agree to get them out of there, and then what we do with them will be a matter we can discuss afterward. If we pull it off.”

  The thought of miserable little children that looked partly like me and partly like Marcus flitted through my mind. But I had no other choice. I had to put my trust in Kalan’s plan and trust that it would work. It had to work. “Fine.”

  #

  They hauled Malcolm back into Marcus’s car, this time, bound and gagged. After Kalan and Marcus argued over whether he should be put into the backseat or the crunched-up trunk, Kalan eventually won the dispute and got his father into the rear seat, right beside him.

  I pulled out my cell phone and turned it on. I had fifteen urgent messages. Eight from my mother and the rest from Zoe.

  Where r u?

  Why r u and Tait not answering??

  Call me ASAP!

  I typed in her number, and when Zoe answered, she let me have it.

  “Where the hell are you?” she demanded.

  “I’m with Tait, Kalan and Marcus. I told her everything in as few words as possible. When I was done, Zoe cursed in my ear.

  “We’re going back to the lab to get my eggs,” I said.

  Zoe let out a full shriek that sliced into my eardrum. “No you’re not! Get your ass back home and as far away from Marcus and that Malcolm guy as you possibly can. You can add Kalan to that list, too.”

  “No. I’m not leaving my embryos at a lab. I could never forgive myself for allowing someone to take my children. No.”

  “They’re not children, Adriana,” Zoe said, speaking as if she were addressing someone who’d lost touch with reality.

  “Not yet.”

  “I don’t think you get it,” Zoe said.

  Kalan tapped on the window from inside th
e car to motion it was time to go, and I put an end to Zoe’s rant.

  “Look. I want you to come here. Just in case. I’m going to call to give you an update before midnight. If I haven’t called by midnight, call the cops, okay?”

  Another long string of profanities came through the receiver of the phone, but Zoe finally conceded, then said, “This is idiotic. Just for the record.” I hung up.

  I got in the backseat, beside Kalan who sat in the middle, Malcolm on his right. Marcus drove with Tait in the front passenger seat. Tait was leaning away from Marcus so far that he was practically pressed against the window. But Marcus’s posture was relaxed, as if he was oblivious to Tait’s disgust. But was he really? Or was it all an act?

  Kalan wound his fingers through mine and squeezed. I mouthed the words, “Are you okay?” to him and he nodded, giving my hand another gentle squeeze to accentuate his response.

  Beside him, Malcolm watched our entire interaction.

  #

  We neared the gate at Eros and Kalan’s palms were slick with sweat. To his right, Malcolm squirmed and grunted and groaned, his shoulder colliding with Kalan’s repeatedly. Kalan gave him a shove. Malcolm grunted again, this time, the grunt sounded a lot like I need to talk to you!

  “He wants to talk,” Kalan said. “Should I let him talk?”

  Through the rear view mirror, Marcus glanced back and shot Malcolm a hostile look. “Let the prick speak.”

  Kalan untied the gag around Malcolm’s head, and his father immediately started talking with a frantic edge to his voice.

  “They’re going to stop you as soon as we walk in.”

  Marcus laughed. “Did you think we weren’t prepared for that? Come on, I realize you haven’t been engineered for superior intelligence, but I assumed you weren’t that stupid.”

  “Then how will you do it?” Malcolm asked.

  Marcus glanced back, and observed our father with a half-smile, half-snarl. “You no longer have your fancy weapon to wield against me, do you, Daddy-O?”

  “It’s not fancy. It’s merely a transparent lithium-ion battery. We used silicon lithography, liquid silicone, and electrodes to create an invisible weapon we knew would neutralize your abilities.”

  This only enraged Marcus further. “I want you to die. I really, really do.”

  Malcolm stared at his son, his eyes blinking, as if he was taking in the meaning of the words. Then his eyes closed.

  #

  Through binoculars, Kalan watched Malcolm pass through the front doors of Eros.

  My head was pounding. Kalan’s father was under Marcus’s mind control, and while Kalan knew it was likely the only possible way they could get the eggs out, I knew it was hard for him to accept Marcus having so much control. The guards were too well prepared to deal with Kalan and Marcus’s unique abilities for them to attempt to go in there with him. But it was obvious Kalan still didn’t trust the situation. I could hardly blame him. Too many variables, too many things to go wrong. Not to mention the most troubling underlying problem. We were putting our trust in Marcus not to double cross us.

  And Marcus could not be trusted. I’d learned that lesson the hard way.

  I sat on the trunk, texting Zoe. Marcus leaned against the car near the headlights, Tait on the other side of the vehicle. The sun beat down on us and Kalan blinked repeatedly. I was certain his pale eyes were affected by the brightness, one of the major disadvantages to his pale complexion.

  Kalan lowered the binoculars when Malcolm disappeared into the mammoth structure. He closed his eyes as if he were praying.

  Tait’s voice interrupted the silence. “How much of that… between us… how much of that was real, and how much a manipulation?”

  Marcus’s eyebrows were high on his forehead as he regarded Tait and his question. “It was all real. And it was all a manipulation. I’m tricky like that.”

  Tait glared. “That’s all you have to say?”

  Marcus’s whole being screamed indifference.

  Tait jumped off of the hood of the car and jabbed his finger into Marcus’s chest. “Well, isn’t that nice? Is that the only way you can get a piece of ass—to trick people into it?”

  Marcus shrugged, noncommittal. “It’s not the only way… but it is the easiest. And you have such a pretty ass, Tait.”

  Tait yelled, “Fuck you!” and pulled his elbow back, his fist hurtling toward Marcus’s face. Marcus stopped his fist midair, the two of them struggling, and then Marcus lowered Tait’s hand. He held it and pulled Tait into him.

  Then Marcus’s lips were on Tait’s, his hands on either side of his face.

  Tait shoved him backward. “Stop it!”

  Marcus took a few steps back, laughing. “Your words say stop, but your body says something altogether different—”

  “I hate you!” Tait yelled, his eyes red and glossy. “I hate you so much!”

  I ran to Tait’s side. “Stop it, Marcus!”

  “Love and hate are two sides of the same coin, hun.” Marcus’s voice was cold.

  Tait fisted his own hair in his hands until it stood on end. “Shut up. Shut the fuck up, do you hear me? Leave me alone.”

  Marcus nodded, his expression bored. “If that’s what you want, baby.”

  “Don’t call me that! Don’t ever call me that!” Tait had come undone, his eyes wild and bright.

  Marcus smiled at Tait and turned away, but not before I caught his eye. There was something in his expression, something I’d never seen before. Something that looked like… regret? Marcus leaned against the driver’s side of the car while I hugged Tait.

  Kalan spoke to his brother in a low voice. “He’s human, you know. He has feelings.”

  Marcus rolled his eyes at Kalan. “I’m not. Human, that is. He’s better off hating me. It’ll be easier for him to move on.” Marcus made no attempt to lower his voice, and I knew Tait heard every word he said.

  Kalan’s head tilted to the side. “You love him.”

  Marcus stared straight ahead, his mouth a hard line. “I don’t think I’m capable of that, being that I’m a nonhuman.”

  “Don’t listen to them,” I whispered in Tait’s ear.

  I wanted nothing more than to string Marcus up by the balls. He was a thoughtless, emotionally vacant freak. How he could use someone as sweet as Tait was beyond my understanding. Marcus’s colossal flaws were magnified by Kalan’s opposite character. The question was—how much of the personality difference was a result of nature, and how much nurture? Was Marcus’s horrendous personality something that was genetically engineered? Or did it come about as a result of the impact of life’s circumstances? I thought of my embryos, and the possibility that half the genetic material was from Marcus. A shiver slid up my back, even in the hot sun.

  “Maybe if you stopped being such an ass,” Kalan said, “and tried to be accountable for your actions, you might be able to make amends—”

  “I’m not having this conversation with you,” Marcus interrupted. “We are not friends. We are not bros. And I don’t need a fucking therapist.”

  Kalan took a deep breath. “Fine, but you’re making a mistake.”

  Marcus ignored this last comment as he put the binoculars to his eyes and peered at the Eros building. He lowered them and glanced at his watch. “He’s been in there for half an hour. If he’s not out in fifteen minutes, we need to move on to Plan B.”

  “What is Plan B?” Kalan asked.

  Marcus shot Kalan a contemptuous look. “I don’t know, Kalan. You’re full of helpful advice today. You tell me.”

  I steered Tait away and left them to hash it out. We stood at the side of the vehicle, and I grasped his hand. “Hey. I’m sorry about all of this,” I said.

  Tait took a breath and looked down. “You don’t know what it’s like, to have feelings for someone, only to find out… He used me.”

  “I know what it’s like when feelings aren’t reciprocated. A
nd I know what it’s like to be betrayed,” I said, inching up beside him so our forearms touched.

  He looked at me. “By who?”

  I swallowed, my heart staggering in my chest. Was I going to tell him? “Analiese.”

  Tait’s eyes widened. “What? How?”

  “Did you know I had a thing for Derek?” I asked. Tait’s brow-line furrowed. I continued, “I told her how I felt, that I wanted to date him, and then she…”

  “What?” Tait’s eyes narrowed, just slightly.

  I knew I was on shaky ground. Tait was just as much Analiese’s best friend as he was mine. “She deliberately screwed me over and went after him.”

  Tait’s mouth dropped open and he scanned my face. “When? I mean, when did you tell her?”

  “I told her a week before she announced they were dating.” The image of the two of them, their shadowed silhouettes pressed together in the camper, flashed through my mind once again. I felt like I was inside an iron maiden and all the oxygen from my lungs was forcibly extracted.

  Tait shook his head. “She must have misunderstood. Analiese wouldn’t have done that. Not on purpose.”

  “She did. She knew exactly what she was doing, and she did it to prove a point.” My voice was hoarse, my throat full of tears. “That I wasn’t better than her. That she could beat me.”

  “Analiese wasn’t like that,” Tait said.

  “I’m telling you she was.” I hesitated. Did I tell him the rest? I’d already said the worst, and now I owed it to myself to have the entire story off my chest, once and for all. “The day she died, something happened… between Derek and me—”

  Tait jerked up from leaning on the car and held his hand up between us. “Don’t. I don’t want to hear it. This isn’t about Analiese and her betrayal, it’s about you. You can’t let go, and you don’t know what to do. You’re telling yourself lies, so you can let her go. Well, I’m not listening to this bullshit. Not another word, Adriana.”