by Richard Lord
“Okay.” Adam walked over and picked up the second half, then the half she was staring at. He handed her both and she hugged them close, like children. One of the twins becomes jewelry. The other you can make as a monument to something, but life would get old if you had to carry that stone with you everywhere you went.” Adam watched her eyes light up as she giggled at the thought.
Adam walked towards her, grabbed her wrist and clicked.
They appeared in front of a destroyed structure and he waved his arm out to it. “I thought you would want to see this. This is the house where I was born. This is what people lived in. Well, I thought people did. I didn’t know they were usually not mangled until I was later adopted. That’s a long story. Phillip was here.”
Tomorrow stared at the structure and then around it noting it wasn’t attached to anything. “So people lived by themselves?”
“Some. Some with families. Some lived in spaces that were connected to other spaces, but they had locks on the entry to their spaces. Those were called apartments, but if you had enough money they were called condominiums. Pretty much the same thing.” Adam explained.
Tomorrow looked at the place then she turned to Adam. “Can I put this here. For Phillip?”
“Yes, you can. He would like that, I am sure of it.” Adam replied and he watched her run towards the structure. At the porch, she dug a slight hole and put the bottom of the geode, with the crystals facing outward partially in the ground and then packed the sand around it.
Adam walked towards her. She gazed at her monument to Phillip, silently for a long time. Then she turned and looked up to Adam and hugged him. “Thank you, Adam! I’ve always wished I could do something for the martyr. He did so much for my mother and for all of us.” Adam held her silently and pulled her closer to him as he felt her begin to tremble.
After a few minutes, Tomorrow let go of him. She held her head down out of sight from Adam and wiped at her eyes. Then she turned and looked to Adam as he sat on the bare porch and she went to sit next to him. Adam put his arm around her as she asked, “Why did Phillip give his life for us?”
“I suppose he wanted to see the suffering end. I think he also felt personal responsibility even more when he realized it was his half-brother Stephen who was causing the pain for so many.” Adam tried to answer.
“I thought you were his brother?” Tomorrow asked.
“Yes, but I was an infant then. It’s possible to have more than one brother, you know.” Adam grinned realizing that there hadn’t been a full generation yet, so the concept was shady to her. “I refer to him as half-brother because he had the same father that Phillip and I had, but a different mother.”
Tomorrow looked out at how high up they were and replied, “Oh.”
“Just over that ridge is a cliff. It’s where Persistence and Brian practiced.” Adam pointed.
“What did they practice?” Tomorrow asked.
“Clicking in space and in time. Persistence’s methods were, very dangerous, but Brian was always thinking everything through before acting, so I suppose she was a good influence for him. I suspect that is why Phillip was the way he was. A deep thinker who was always thinking about consequences.”
“And you?” Tomorrow asked.
Adam was quiet for a few seconds and then he responded, “I think about a lot of things, I consider consequences, but I grew up far different than Brian and Persistence. They had a very unique upbringing. Phillip too had a very different experience, but I think Brian was influential to our mother and that rubbed off on Phillip a lot.”
“How did you come up, as you put it. You said you were adopted. Like a child taken in by another family?” Tomorrow asked. She thought of all the families who took in children after the awakening.
“Yes, I got lucky. They were good people. They sent me to college. That’s a place where you learn a lot of things.” Adam paused and then lightly punched her in the arm. “Not like what you’ve been learning, but the same concept. A place to be taught something. I couldn’t decide what to study, so I studied a lot of topics. Mostly I wanted to understand how I did what I did when I was a baby.”
Tomorrow looked at Adam, “What did you do?”
Renfield lowered his head trying to consider the question no one had ever asked, “Well, after a long time with no food or drink, down in the basement…Umm, lower area of that house, I clicked one day and I was found by a family that took me in.” Adam explained. “It was a while before I learned to click again, but I was very good at hearing other people and seeing remote places in my head and what was going on in them. I also knew, from hearing people’s thoughts, that other people could not do what I did. I really didn’t have anyone to teach me. Later, in college, I started visiting myself. That gets confusing. But anyway, like I said, different from them.”
Tomorrow looked at him. “I see. Can we go see the cliff?”
Adam stood and held out a hand to help her up. He walked in a saunter towards the cliff, not letting go of her hand. Once there, his grip on her hand became tighter as she insisted on going to the edge to look down. She saw the jagged rocks. Then she heard what he was thinking. She felt his grip get tighter and she knew all that had happened there. Tomorrow realized she was making him uneasy. That was odd because he always seemed so sure of himself. Maybe not as much in his explanations, but he never seemed to doubt his actions. She wanted to ease his tension so she stepped away from the cliff’s edge.
Adam looked at her. “You’re getting better at hearing me. I’m not sure I should have taught you that part of it.”
Tomorrow punched him in the arm, hard. Then she put her hands to her mouth. “I’m sorry.”
Adam thinks deeply about how all of this effects Tomorrow. He looks pulls her closer and says, “Through everything, so many love you. I want to say I more, but that is up to you to decide.”
“Why do you reject me? I only want you. That’s all I want. I do everything for you because I want you to accept me.” Tomorrow sheds a tear while trying to hold others back.
Adam feels the weight of a thousand lifetimes on him as he says, “If I weren’t like I am, I’d be somebody else and then you wouldn’t feel that way.” Adam grins at her and then reached for her. He clicks as soon as he makes contact.
They appeared next to a stream of water. It was more water than she had ever seen in her life.
Tomorrow looked up and noticed there were things growing all around her. She walked to the water and there she could see the sun. She turned back to Adam. “Where is the water going? Shouldn’t we catch some before it’s gone?”
Adam laughed. “Sure, go ahead. While you’re at it. Take off those gross clothes and jump in. You’re beginning to smell. Later I’ll show you how to wash clothes, properly, in it.” He began to take his clothes off.
Tomorrow looked at him. “What if it’s gone by then?”
“It won’t be.” Adam jumped in the water and began rubbing it all over himself as he enjoyed the sensation of the filth of the last few weeks washing off of him.
Tomorrow watched him, not sure she understood, but she took all of her clothes off and jumped in. She let the flowing water rinse her hair and when she raised her head up she looked at Adam with a huge smile. “It feels good. It’s cold!”
“It is good. Just a warning. Watch for snakes. There aren’t many that swim, but some do. You’ll see them on top of the water. Here, the water is moving too fast for them, but in other areas, they might be around. Just avoid them. Don’t try to catch one. All water snakes are aggressive and will attack you first. A large number of them are very poisonous. They aren’t shy like the rattle snakes in the desert.”
Tomorrow replied, “Okay, but explain swim?”
“Get, this is a good spot to bathe in. Then we wash the clothes. After that, we’ll follow the water until we get to a good spot for me to teach you how to swim. Basically, it’s moving in the water without drowning. You can even move under the water that way.”
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Tomorrow thought about that and it sounded neat, but she kept thinking the water was going to get away.
Adam said, “Also, in fast moving water it’s safe to pee. It will go away, just be sure to do that upstream where the water runs faster. Also, you can do the other thing in the water. As for your actual womanly thing. Don’t stay in the water too long. Skin doesn’t like being wet that long.”
Tomorrow peered at him and said, “It was just a few days. Stop teasing me about it just because it doesn’t happen to you.”
Adam laughed and grabbed a scoop of water and thrust it at her. Tomorrow saw how he did it then she clicked behind him and did the same over his head. Then she grabbed onto his shoulders and whispered in his ear, “Is this the place where there are more animals to eat?”
Adam, could feel her hot breath on his neck and could tell she was excited to try new meats. “Yes. It’s also a good place to learn what plants you can eat. Just memorize the leaves. I’ll show you what tastes good and I’ll show you what has defenses you won’t like. As I said, memorize the leaves. Some we can even use for medicine.”
Tomorrow replied, “Okay.” She started rubbing water on his back. “You look good clean.”
“Thank you.” Adam turned towards her. As he started to speak his voice broke a bit, then he got out, “You look pretty good clean too.”
Tomorrow looked down through the water and then at Adam’s face. She kissed him quickly and then pushed against his chest. Her legs went up in the water and she noticed she was floating. She was thoroughly enjoying the sensation when she saw Adam leap out of the water and then into it and disappear. He came up under her and grabbed her ankles. Tomorrow smiled until she noted the look of concern on Adam’s face. She said, “What’s wrong?”
“Don’t do that before I teach you how to swim. You could have floated like that for a long time, but we don’t know what’s down there.” Adam pointed down the river.
She noticed he hadn’t let go of her ankles and she looked at him with a pleading in her eyes. What she felt was not something she could help.
Adam let go of her, pushing downwards on her ankles and said, “Come on, let’s get the clothes washed so we aren’t putting back on the same dust and stink we just got off.” He turned and headed to the land. Adam could hear Tomorrow’s thought from behind him.
He tried to blink it away. Then he heard her in his head. “Now I know. I don’t like Gentlemen.”
He turned and looked at her as she shrugged at him. Then she said out loud, “But I understand, for now. Also, I kind of like the way you smell. Why not leave some of it on you?”
“Because the more we smell, the more other things can smell us. Some of those things I would prefer not to approach us while we are asleep.” Adam explained.
Tomorrow’s mood changed as she considered those words. She got out of the water and grabbed her clothes and headed back to the water behind Adam.
“Tomorrow, I have to tell you something.” Adam’s eyes narrowed on her.
“Okay, that sounds ominous. Are there rats in the water?” Tomorrow asked sarcastically.
“Technically, I would advise against standing in the same place you evacuate, if you’re trying to suggest you have. Just a basic warning.” Adam noted and looked back down into the water. “Not to mention the whole reason you’re washing your clothes in the river is to reduce how much they smell like you.”
Tomorrow moved towards him. “So there are rats in the water?”
“I doubt it, but yes, rats can swim. That is the least of what the issues are. That’s another topic. If you did, just don’t again.” Adam replied.
“Something has been bothering you for a long time. It has something to do with me, doesn’t it?” Tomorrow noted.
“You look shockingly like someone I used to know. More than I can explain, but younger.” Adam looked at her for a reaction. He noted there was none.
“Did you spend better time with her than you do with me?” Tomorrow quipped as she bent deep down and grabbed a rock.
Knowing what she meant Adam replied, “Yes, I’ve told you about her. We had a daughter.” At that statement, Adam’s mind went into overdrive.
Tomorrow suddenly felt bad for her retort and responded, “I’m sorry.”
Adam looked at her. “It’s okay. You don’t know, but now I think I know.”
“Know what?” Tomorrow asked.
“You can do what she did, but you…something is not right.”
“Thanks for the compliment.” Tomorrow headed for the shore feeling thoroughly insulted.
“No, I don’t mean that. Something Stephen did. It effected everything across timelines. I’m not even sure what I am talking about.” Adam yelled after her, but knew the misuse of words was going to be an issue for some time.
CHAPTER 11
“The obvious plan is to have a plan or at least plan on having a plan.” -- from the Book of Phillip
“I’m going in there. Don’t follow me. I think once I see what’s in there I can click before they even notice me.” Phillip said to Venetia.
“If you can’t and you get caught, I have no way out of here. Why do you want to check out that room so bad? You said you can hear thought in there. Thoughts come from people. If there are people in there you could get caught and then I would be too.” Venetia was whispering but her anger at his insistence on going in there was clear.
“Whatever their thinking about, they are thinking about it intensely. It’s very important to them. Which means it’s important to us. That also means they won’t notice if I am quite in getting in and can find a good place to click to quickly.” Phillip whispered back, without any doubt in his voice.
Venetia looked at him and produced a knife. “I knew this was going to happen. You’re very predictable. Fine, go in. You’re going to go regardless of what I say.”
Brian had already opened the door and was on the other side, closing it slowly. Venetia pushed her back to the wall as if it made her more invisible. Then she sighed as she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Brian noticed a rafter and clicked up to it quickly. He looked down and noticed that this room was quite large. He listened, but he wished he could get a better view of what they were looking at.
“We have all the models we need. We have decided on all of the category lines we want to continue. The rest will make food for the continued lines. As for those that have evaded the hunters and the sky crawlers so far, this line of hunters will be interesting.”
“What did your team do different with these, Dr. Pilnisky?”
“We found an interesting set of genes in one of the ones we have on the line now. We’re not the only ones who have noted she is different. The security team has noted a young man coming in and sitting by her every day. We don’t know why, but we assume she is family to him. I’ve told them to leave him alone, for now, but at some point we need to capture him and look at his genetic profile too. I’m going to assume he is among the few who escaped from here some time back. The security team agrees. They’ve seen him in other parts of the city and he seems to know it pretty well.”
Dr. Tenari looks at him. “So what are the genetic anomalies?”
“I’ll show you. A demonstration will explain better than I can.” Dr. Pilnisky goes on to explain what they are going to see. “These are the latest round of hunters. They handle very high levels of adrenaline and multiple stimulants well. They are the most aggressive of what we have produced so far. They are very high in testosterone, as you know, which is why they are very hairy like their predecessors, but we got around the calming factor in testosterone surges by increasing their cortisone levels.”
Dr. Sadar notes, “So basically, their psychotic?”
“Yes and no. They still take basic orders through the synaptic connection. What I want you to note may not be obvious at first.” Dr. Pilnisky reaches down and presses a button. The secondary door opens leaving only 15 inches of Plexiglas between them and what
he is about to release into that staging area. “Don’t worry, it sufficient, it’s pliable, so no matter how strong they are, it has a tendency to radiate the impact.” Then he reaches down and pushes to more buttons, one with each hand, simultaneously.
The room burst with action as two similar looking models burst towards each other at lighting speed. They begin to rip at each other, throwing each other and tearing at each other. The room echoes with the sound of it, even through the acrylic barrier. Dr. Pilnisky raises a hand and points. “Now notice the depth of the gash on that one’s arm. Note the midsection rip on the other.”
They all concentrate on those areas. They’ve seen these battles before. While not quit as agitated as this one seemed to be, they all had the same result. One would kill the other or they would eventually both bleed to death. The acrylic was becoming covered in blood, but they focused on the two areas the Dr. suggested. Then they watched them both fall.
Dr. Tenari said, “What were we supposed to notice?”
“Wait for it…”
Then they saw both of them jump back up and continue fighting again. The midsection wound on one seemed to have healed a bit and the arm of the other was healing as they watched. The two things tore at each other more and then Dr. Pilnisky spoke into a microphone. “Ok, order them back now. We don’t want these two dead.”
Dr. Sadar said. “Regeneration. And you say this is from a gene set you found in one of the people on the line?”
“Yes. Although she is past the stage where we can question her. There, were a lot of other interesting markers, but this is the first set we were able to isolate and could understand since it is similar to lizards re-growing their tails. Although as a full set, it’s not like that, really, it was at least identifiable because of the similarities.”
Dr. Tenari said, “Have we done any experiments on the subject with the gene set?”
“Some. I am waiting for her next level of the process of her becoming a synth. Right now, she is too delicate for us to try too much on her. But then will be a good time and she will be less resistant to our trials.” Dr. Pilnisky explained.