by L. M. Moore
CHAPTER 48
AS I ENTERED HER QUARTERS, she rushed up to me and wrapped her arms around me.
“I’m sorry-” she started, but I cut her off.
“There’s nothing to be sorry about,” I said, holding her close to me. “Are you fully…?” I didn’t know what to call it and I felt weird calling it anything at all.
“No, Danel became drained, so I couldn’t completely charge my core.”
I looked into her eyes and smiled. She seemed confused.
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” I lifted her chin and then looked into her eyes.
“How could I? It’s horrific. The look on your face when you saw me inside of Danel crushed me.”
“That whole situation wouldn’t have happened if you had just talked to me. You can’t imagine what I thought when I saw that. Kye, for just a second, I thought he ate you.”
A slight smirk escaped her lips at the silliness of my statement. The tension between us lifted for a moment and this was where I made her uncomfortable. I knew she wasn’t going to like my idea.
“I want to try something,” I said.
Her eyes widened and she knew what I wanted.
“No. I won’t do that to you.”
“I have Ben in me now. I’m the oldest now. Just try.”
“No, I can’t. Did you see Collin? That was just two hands and he collapsed.”
“I’m not taking no for an answer.” I was being firm now and I meant it. “There’s something different about my DNA. Collin said it himself. This will work. Didn’t you hear me when you were inside of Danel?”
“No, I can’t hear anything when I’m charging.”
She pulled away from me and tears streamed down her face. She quickly wiped them away and tried to compose herself.
“There is one Tanjennian that would have you believe you have no options, but I don’t think he honestly thought there were any.” I was talking about Danel. I doubt it ever occurred to him that I might be able to charge Kye.
She looked at me, shocked for a second and then her face changed.
“It would give Danel time to heal if you could alternate between the two of us until we found a way for you to regenerate a different way,” I said.
She thought about this and there was a different look in her eyes.
“I’m more worried about you. This could be very painful. You’ve been in enough pain,” she said.
“Just try.” I was begging now, pleading with her and she started crying again.
I took my shirt off and she seemed to be fighting with herself. I pulled her close to me and I felt her soften against me. I brushed my feelings up against her and I could feel she was considering it and it was terrifying to her, the thought of losing me.
“I will know if you’re in pain, so don’t bother lying.” Her voice was very low and there were still tears streaming down her face. I wiped them away softly, but she wouldn’t look into my eyes.
“You’ve seen what kind of pain I can handle. I doubt it will be anything like that.”
I knew that she loved me. She would much rather die than cause me pain. She was the last of her kind and I was the only one of mine. And the junk in my DNA is what made me survive and that junk would save her. I was counting on it. I could feel her despair and her hope. I reached into her emotionally with love and compassion. She didn’t block me and she let my emotions glide over her as she cried silently.
“If it’s too much, you’ll know,” I said, stroking her hair.
“And what if there’s nothing for me to connect to?”
“Then we’ll find a different way,” I said.
“Lewis, if I can merge with you physically, I can’t hear anything except your own heartbeat.”
“Then listen to that. Let it guide you.”
She pulled away from me and paced back and forth for what seemed like an eternity. Then, slowly, she undressed in front of me as if she’d done it a hundred times and I found myself smiling at her beauty. She pressed her warm body against me and I could feel her hands softening, becoming gel-like against my chest. Slowly, she pushed her right hand into me and I smiled at her. She studied my face, looking for any sign of pain, but there was none. Her eyes widened at the possibility that this wouldn’t hurt me at all. She pushed her left hand through my chest and still I felt nothing but pressure, no pain.
I knew now that I absorbed all of Ben, every part of him. I pulled her body up against mine, inviting her inside me.
“This next part bothers even Danel, so just take a deep breath.”
“I’m fine,” I said.
She pushed me toward the bed and I sat down on it and I pulled her into me. I could feel her melt into my chest. It was astounding how she could change the mass of her body, becoming liquid as she pushed through my pores. I could feel some pressure as she pulled in her legs and pushed her head into my shoulder, but it didn’t hurt. It was only a few moments before she was completely inside of me. Then, there was a rush. I could feel her reaching into every muscle, every part of me.
I didn’t know where Ben’s core was inside of me, but I knew it was there.
“Find it,” I whispered, as she slowly reached up my neck into my brain.
I could still feel her emotions. She was eager, no longer sad. She was amazed at what my body could do. She was in awe that I was fine emotionally and physically.
Then, she reached deeper into my brain and something clicked and I felt different. I opened my eyes, but I couldn’t see anything. I felt drained. I tried to stay calm to see if she could charge, so I leaned back on the bed. I felt nothing from her for a while and I started to worry. It had been only minutes since my sight had left. Then I felt her; the pressure was barely tolerable, but what I felt as she reached into my brain sent an excruciating wave of pain through every part of my body. I didn’t move and tried to breathe through it. I drew in slow breaths and shuddered as I released them. She seemed to pause for a moment and the pain dulled a little.
“Don’t stop, keep going,” I whispered, knowing she couldn’t hear me.
She reached deeper into my body and the pain started again. It roared through every nerve, from deep within me to the tips of my fingers and I let out a low groan. A sudden fear swept across my mind that she would find nothing and this would kill me. My breaths were shorter now and my whole body was reeling with pain. I turned on my side, not knowing if I was hurting her physically or crushing her. I could feel she was rushed, that she was panicked and searching. She knew I was in pain and I tried to fight through the pain, but it was useless. My body quivered in agony with every breath. Somehow she was affecting my optic nerves and I still couldn’t see anything. I tried to move my fingers and curled them for moment.
I could feel a humming deep in my brain. Kye was doing something and she seemed to relax inside of me when suddenly there was stabbing pain in my head. Every muscle in my entire body clenched and I let out a guttural sound. The pain grew as I tried to breathe. But I knew I was being pushed outside of consciousness. I tried to hang on to the pain as I yelled hoping she could hear me. Then the room drifted away from me and I was out.
CHAPTER 49
WHEN I WOKE UP, I wasn’t in Kye’s suite anymore. My vision was very blurry and I felt like I’d been hit by a truck. I was a little panicked to see I was in one of the medical labs, hooked up to an IV and several monitors. I slid my hands down my chest, but she was gone. She had left my body. I could hear Danel’s voice, but he sounded different. I tried to sit up, but everything ached, every muscle, so I stilled myself, leaning back on the bed.
Then someone next to the bed grabbed my hand and even though my vision was blurred, I knew it was Kye. I could feel her soft delicate fingers in my hand.
“Did it work?” I whispered but there was no answer.
My vision started to clear a little and she looked so beautiful in her deep red suit. She was beaming with joy. She looked happier than I’d ever seen her. That sadness had disapp
eared completely. And everyone in the room was staring at me. I looked at my hand again, afraid for a second that I’d changed into something else, but I was still the same genetically-altered human.
Collin walked toward a monitor next to the bed, shaking his head at me.
“Lewis, exactly how many times are you going to put yourself in danger? Because we can designate a room just for you, if need be.” He was almost laughing at me. And I was shocked at the cheerful energy in the room. Something else had happened. What didn’t I know? Even Danel looked pretty damn pleased.
Collin was conscious and he seemed better than fine.
“How long have I been out?” I said.
“About a week this time. I’m starting to think you enjoy being unconscious.”
A week…this meant that Kye still had to charge with Danel and immediately disappointment filled me. She needed to be charged ever three days so if I was out for a week she had been charging with Danel and would have to continue to do so. This was not what I wanted to hear.
Then Danel smiled at me. I’m sure he was happy that I didn’t really succeed.
Aaron then came into the room with his glowing blue eyes, just smiling.
“Hey, bro, how you doing?”
“Sore, but I think I’m fine, unless there’s something that someone hasn’t told me.” I searched around the room, but no one’s expression changed. “What the hell is going on?”
Aaron smiled at Kye and she smiled back — a big smile — and her eyes lined with tears.
Aaron spoke again, “well, bro, you see, your DNA is doing some pretty amazing things. Let me ask you something. Do you think you can do that again?”
“You mean, charge Kye? Yes, of course. That’s the plan.”
“No, you won’t need to do that. I’m talking about charging another hybrid.”
Now, I was confused. There were no other hybrids.
I looked Kye in the eyes and she leaned against the side of the bed and pressed up against me and kissed me. She was so soft against me and I simply didn’t care that everyone in the room was staring at us. I wanted to tell her I was sorry that it didn’t work. That I still loved her even if she had to charge with Danel. And then I saw Danel in the corner of my eye and my attention was suddenly drawn toward him.
I was expecting him to be walking toward me with a scowl, but he wasn’t. He was different. He seemed younger, healthier; the dark grey areas had diminished. The glow had returned to the arteries in his neck and his eyes were brighter and he was smiling at me, of all people. My vision was still a little off but it actually looked like a real smile.
“What am I missing here?” I said.
“You charged me,” she said.
I nodded my head. Maybe it hadn’t hit them, that it wasn’t enough. At least not enough to break her bond with Danel which was all I could think about.
“No Lew, you charged her completely,” Aaron said.
“What?” He wasn’t making any sense.
Emotionally, I brushed up against her and there it was. I could feel her core inside of her. It was very powerful. I almost couldn’t believe it and I kept reaching deeper into her.
“Are you sure?” I said.
“Yes. She’s been through every test we could think of. It appears to be permanent,” Collin said.
Permanent. That was the only word that stuck.
“How?”
“It’s possible the mutation in your chromosomes altered Ben’s core. We don’t actually know at this point. It’s also possible that when Kye merged with you that you’re mutation was transferred to her. We have found some slight anomalies in her chromosomes. We’ll need to do some more tests on you,” Collin said, rubbing the back of his neck looking dumbfounded at me. “Nothing has been completely conclusive. But what it really means is that she’ll never need to be charged again.”
My head was just swimming with this new information. Tears started to stream down Kye’s beaming face and I reached out and wrapped her in my arms. Emotionally, I pushed out all the joy and love I felt for her.
“What makes you think it’s permanent?” I said.
Collin then looked at Danel and I released Kye as she quickly wiped her tears away.
“That is an assumption. But based on the data we have, she has the strongest core we’ve ever seen.”
“So, do you think you can charge another one?” Aaron said.
Charged – Book Two – The Drid
Is available now. Sample to follow.
Sample of Charged - Book Two – The Drid
CHAPTER 1
I’D BEEN CONSCIOUS approximately ten minutes when the atmosphere in the lab drastically changed. It wasn’t subtle; it was like the air thickened all around me. With stiff muscles, I pushed myself up into a sitting position on the medical bed.
Two minutes ago, everyone was smiling and elated because I was alive and Kye would never need to be charged again. But now, their expressions revealed something else. I scanned their faces but all of them were fixated on Danel. He looked the most uneasy. His gaze locked onto the floor and his spider-like fingers were sliding back and forth over his palms. I started to worry about what could’ve possibly happened in the seven days I was out cold. I licked my dry lips, dreading the words I would hear next.
“We were ordered to execute them…I want you to know that,” Danel said.
Even before my mind registered the statement, I knew it was an excuse wrapped in an apologetic tone. It was the way he said it that threw me off. Danel was the facilitator of this station. A being of confidence and bitterness, but the sentence sounded like it had fallen from the lips of a small boy rather than a nine-foot tall alien. I looked at Aaron but he was stoic, didn’t even blink. Crazy thoughts entered my mind as Danel finally locked eyes with me.
“What are you talking about?”
If Danel was doing the explaining, it wasn’t going to be good and only half of it was going to be the truth.
He approached the bed and let out a long sigh as if this moment was somehow inevitable. He seemed hesitant and all I wanted to know was; who was killed? The room grew quiet and I was growing even more concerned as the seconds ticked by.
“Two hundred years ago when Ben was in charge of the stations, he told us to terminate all of the companions. We were certain they were draining our cores beyond any point of regeneration. All of the stations were ordered to ship them here to have them demolecularized and they obeyed.”
I tried to digest what he was saying but it was like I was physically struck. All I heard was that they didn’t just stop making companions. They murdered them. I grabbed Kye’s hand and squeezed it lightly. I could feel my facial muscles tightening into a scowl as I tried not to glare at him. He looked away from me and continued.
“After…after they arrived, I watched one hundred and ninety-three willingly enter the chambers and I just couldn’t watch it anymore. Thousands of Tanjennians fled to other ships, heart broken or enraged. That’s why there were only twenty-two of us here when you found this station.”
He paused for a moment and stared off into the back of the room. His eyes dimmed and he seemed stuck in the past. I could sense pain from him, but only for a second. He took a deep breath and refocused his eyes on mine.
His wide, sad eyes didn’t lessen the disgust I felt in the pit of my stomach. And the first day I’d met Ben flashed in my mind. I remembered him saying, “this ship is taboo, kid.”
I didn’t think Ben could actually do such a thing. I searched his memories and disappointment started to well up inside of me. I could actually hear him in my head giving the order. It was his memory but it was so vivid it was as if I was there when he said it. And once again, it was like I gave the order. I could feel everything he felt when he said, “put them in the chamber.” Even though I heard it in my own thoughts, I just couldn’t believe it. The images faded but his feelings of despair lingered just a few more seconds. Ben’s memories would be with me forever and this
was the first time it really worried me. Why would he do this? Why didn’t he tell me?
Danel stopped pacing and continued.
“Alma and I managed to save twenty-five companions and stored them on level thirty-eight in the deepest part of the cyro dome. We’ve been keeping this secret for two hundred years. Even Alma kept it a secret until she died and her memories were transferred to Collin.”
And there it was, he wanted something. That would be the only reason he was ever honest with me. Not for one second did I believe Ben wasn’t forced into this decision. I felt confused and almost betrayed by Ben. He never said a word about the companions needing to be charged. Maybe he was ashamed. I could almost hear the explanation; he would save his people whether they wanted to be saved or not. I just couldn’t believe it.
The relief I had because Kye never needed to be charged again had dissipated completely. I immediately pushed up my wall so no one could feel me. The thought of one hundred and ninety-three hybrids being molecularly reduced to nothing made me nauseous.
“Why didn’t you just freeze all of them?” Even I could hear the bitterness in my voice as I watched Collin shift uncomfortably in his chair.
I could sense grief from him, but it wasn’t his grief, it was Alma’s. I’d almost forgotten that Collin was now probably struggling to control her memories.
“We exhausted all possibilities of regenerating their cores, nothing worked unless we charged them ourselves. We tried everything and I mean everything. Ben wouldn’t put them in stasis because he felt that it would only prolong a false hope. He thought that over time some would demand to have their companions returned even if they knew it would kill them. So when the order was given, it was made clear that anyone who didn’t comply would also be terminated.”