by McGill, Brie
Lilith pushed in front of them. "This entire floor is a security checkpoint."
"The entire floor?" Ninkasi's eyes grew wide.
Aleister stroked his jaw, staring down the hall.
"The conveyor belt will grant us passage to the next tier." Lilith pointed ahead. "However, it must first determine our clearance."
Ninkasi hung her head. "We don't have any clearance."
"You don't." Lilith tapped her foot. "But I do, and Aleister may pass."
He crossed his arms. “Why do I get a free pass?!”
“Your royal blood.” She put a hand on her hip, surveying him.
Aleister snorted. "There's not much of it left."
Ninkasi raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, yeah." He waved a hand above his head. "My ancestors had sex with these gigantic, six-fingered freaks. . . over three thousand years ago."
She crossed her arms. "So you're distantly related?"
"All I have to show for it now is a lot of money and a psychological imbalance." He punched his chest and belched.
Lilith snapped her fingers, pointing at the conveyor belt. "We move."
Ninkasi fidgeted with her robes. "You’re not thinking about. . . leaving me behind, are you?"
"The majority of the scans are biometric." Lilith approached the edge of the conveyor belt. "And therefore, simple to fool."
"Simple. Right." Creeping behind her, Aleister grabbed Lilith by the shoulders and shook her. "Okay! Let’s do this."
She recoiled. "I suspect your presence will be pivotal in rescuing Brother." She frowned. “It is integral you pass through the checkpoint alive.”
“Alive?” Ninkasi tilted her head. “What happens if I don’t pass?”
“They will take you.” She shrugged. “I do not know who, or for what purpose. It depends.”
“Then you don’t know what happens if we fail?” Ninkasi craned her neck forward.
“If you fail?” Lilith raised an eyebrow.
Ninkasi spun away, feeling her stomach wrench.
“Some would keep you as a slave.” Lilith placed an icy hand on her shoulder. “Some would keep you for experiments.” She lowered her voice. “Others would keep you for the hormones released into your blood when the body is under duress. Still, there are those who would—”
“Okay!” Ninkasi shoved a hand in Lilith’s face. “I don’t plan on getting caught, anyway!”
Aleister pointed at the belt. "Who goes first?"
"You." She motioned for him. “Come.”
He plodded toward her, towering over her.
"Open your robes." She pointed with an exacting finger.
Aleister raised an eyebrow, and unbuttoned his outermost frock.
“The belt will carry us to a scale. Our retinas will be scanned, our fingerprints taken, our blood drawn.” Lilith stared down the belt. “Basic biometrics.”
Ninkasi crossed her arms. “And we’re fooling these systems how?”
“Stand on Aleister’s feet.” Lilith pointed. “Hold as tightly to him as you can. We’ll obscure you in his robes and he will pass the test as one person.”
“That’s really going to work?” She shot a disturbed look at Aleister. “You know, we’re not that close—”
Lilith stepped on the conveyor. “The clock ticks.”
Grimacing, Ninkasi locked her arms around Aleister’s waist, stepping on his feet.
Grunting, Aleister rebuttoned his robes around her, and stepped onto the slow-moving conveyor.
Ninkasi winced, arms wrapped around him, face buried in his chest, a sweaty undershirt the only thing between her cheek and a forest of curling chest hair.
“Pumpkin, relax.” Aleister constricted her in an enormous bear hug.
She choked for air. “You’ve grown awfully friendly with me.”
“I’m trying to adjust to the fact you’ve made friends with Orion.” Aleister caressed the back of her head with a big hand. “He’ll probably be happier to see you than me.”
“Yeah.” Ninkasi closed her eyes, unsure of what else to call it. “Friends.” She wrinkled her nose, inundated with the stench of cinnamon and sweat.
A soft tone chimed once, twice.
“What was that?” Ninkasi whispered.
“The first checkpoint.” Lilith’s voice carried through the empty hall. “We’re being weighed. They will draw the blood last.”
Aleister patted Ninkasi’s back, as though she were part of his belly. “Pardon my flatulence.”
Ninkasi cringed, her voice a whisper. “I hope you’re joking.”
He kept her pinned against him with a huge paw. “There’s only one way to find out.”
Ninkasi listened to the whir and whinny of the belt, clinging to Aleister as they whipped around a corner.
A tinny chime echoed throughout the corridor.
“Remain still.” Lilith’s words were wary, guarded.
Aleister grunted, squeezing Ninkasi.
She held her breath, listening to the chime, the grind of the belt, the rise and fall of Aleister’s breath.
The belt swerved again, and Ninkasi heard the jangle of eerie, computerized pings.
Lilith spoke in a neutral tone. “The two of us will advance to the retinal scan.”
Ninkasi breathed a sigh of relief.
“Fantastic!” Aleister squeezed her, crushing her.
She gasped for breath. Perhaps she could think of Aleister like her uncle—her neurotic uncle. “Hey, Lilith.” Ninkasi cleared her throat.
Lilith refused to acknowledge her.
“Hey, Lilith.” Ninkasi cleared her throat again, louder.
Aleister whomped a hand against her back. “You okay?”
Ninkasi grimaced, face crushed into his chest.
Lilith sighed, shifting her weight on the belt.
Ninkasi’s voice dropped to a whisper. “What do you mean, when you talk about royal blood?”
“I speak of those that rule this land.” Her voice was neutral; it was impossible to discern a shred of emotion from her words.
Ninkasi swallowed. “You mean. . . like kings?”
“They would act as kings.” Lilith exhaled. “For it is familiar to your kind.”
“My kind.” Ninkasi shook her head. “I don’t get it.”
Aleister cradled her skull, forcing her head into his chest.
"When those that created me came to your planet" —Lilith cleared her throat— "the superior technology in their possession made it a simple task to rule over the rest of you, and they rewarded themselves with positions as your first historical kings."
The zap of a laser pulsing through space interrupted them.
“Eyes wide,” Lilith warned.
Aleister winced, lifting an arm to his face, widening his stance. “Shit, that was bright!”
The dissonance of computerized tones interrupted them, and the conveyor belt looped around a corner, heading downward, deeper into the floor.
“Hey, Aleister.” Closing her eyes, Ninkasi thought about Noah, Angelina, and her mother who was probably hysterical. She thought about her father and wondered if he had bothered to look for her at all. She thought about Wittle Man. “I want to go home.”
Aleister roared with frustration. “You understand my position!”
“Your position.” A lump of emotion rose in her throat. “Have you considered my position?”
He huffed. “It’s not like I did this to you for personal reasons!”
“Do you know what it’s like to be ripped from your family?” She shut her eyes. “To wonder if you’ll ever see them again? Do you know what it feels like, being locked in a room for weeks?”
Aleister put a hand on his hip. “You have Orion!”
“That’s not how you planned it.” Ninkasi shook her head.
“I didn’t plan on taking you at all!” He dug his fingers into her shoulders.
“Extend your arm.” Lilith interrupted them.
Aleister extended an arm.
A moment of silence, stillness passed, the trio transported by the conveyor.
One small metal tink.
Silence.
Another tink.
“Ouch!” Aleister yanked his arm away, shaking it. “Urgh! That hurt!”
Lilith snorted.
Another metal chime sounded from the ceiling.
Lilith climbed off the belt, the muted scuff of her shoes echoing through the gallery. “Mind your step.”
Aleister waddled to the edge of the belt, catching himself on the railing to dismount.
Ninkasi crouched and ducked from Aleister’s robes before he could unbutton them to free her. “Whew!” She scuttled away, taking a deep breath of fresh air, free from Aleister’s scent.
“The labs are below.” Lilith marched to the edge of the platform. “Come.”
Upon waking, Orion detected the smell of blood. He lay in a seated position, slumped against a sturdy, curving pane of glass, legs splayed over sparse metal bars at the bottom of the compartment, feet caught precariously among knife-sharp propeller blades.
Tucking his legs into his chest, he pulled his feet away, pushing hands against the cool plane of glass to steady himself. Fortunately, the blades were still.
Orion stood up, cautiously keeping his feet at the edge of the chamber; he stood trapped inside a narrow glass capsule. Stripped of his clothing, he knew it meant one thing: liquid storage.
They planned to submerge him.
He bit his lip, rocketing knuckles into the glass. Of all the contemptuous things—
The impact had no effect upon his prison.
Orion shook the pain from his hand.
It felt like an eternity had passed since he was trapped here; he thought he would never have to endure it again.
But, this was the risk he accepted when he came here. He shook his head bitterly.
The doors to the lab rolled open with a metallic whir.
Orion climbed to the front of the tank, carefully toeing over the blades at the bottom.
Echidna sauntered toward him and rapped jet-black fingernails against the glass. “You’re awake.” Opening a laptop on the table beside him, she stared into the eerie glow of the screen.
Orion beat a fist against the glass, lips pressed tightly with rage.
“You’ve grown so much since I’ve last seen you.” Her fingers danced across the keyboard. “I have so many questions for you, so many things I want to know. . .”
He shifted his weight to one side, supporting himself against the glass with an extended arm, long hair falling around his chest.
“Your genetic expression.” Echidna sat in a chair before the computer. “Your evolution, your reproductive capabilities. The limits of your organism.”
He leaned into the side of the tank, crossing his arms. “And you study this to what end?”
“Survival!” She wagged a finger at him.
Orion dragged a hand along his face. “Survival of what?”
“Of the fittest.” Echidna adjusted her hat. “Of our kind.”
He looked away from her.
“The only hope we have of perpetuating our species is dependent upon blending our genetic material with that of the surface dwellers’.” She typed into her computer, craning her neck to intently read a screen. "If I can enmesh my celestial powers in a new flesh, my body will evolve and become stronger, through the diversifying power of sexual differentiation."
Echidna wrinkled her nose. "Cloning is dreadful; it may retard death, but with every new copy, the organism weakens. I am fortunate that my original body is preserved in cryostasis; most others lack that luxury, and deteriorate slowly through copies of themselves over time. It's a harrowing fate."
She crossed her legs and turned to him. "Creating vessels for our consciousness capable of sexual reproduction would benefit us all."
Orion became fixated with the blades in the floor. Once Echidna learned what she wanted from him, maybe she'd flush him down the drain.
“For as long as we cohabited this planet, interbreeding with the natives created hideous complications.” Echidna gestured with her hands. “The offspring were born with freakish deformities and abnormalities that forbade us to pass into society.”
He smirked, opening and closing his hand.
"Some of those original failures continued to interbreed with the surface dwellers, gradually becoming more like them over time." Echidna swung her foot. "As their bodies evolved and conformed to this planet's standards, their celestial gifts and powers disappeared."
She swiveled in her chair. "Others such as myself have allowed the half-breeds to retain their positions of power and rule those that live on the surface; they still possess the urge to rule and conquer, but the tendency toward supremacy is corrupted by the hunger of the flesh. The half-breeds do our work, but they are useful idiots.
"You and your sister" —Echidna pointed at him— "are the closest I have ever come, the closest anyone has ever come to creating the perfect vessel. You were created to retain the gifts of your heritage, and to blend seamlessly with their world. Minus an extra finger, I really thought I had the two of you figured out."
Orion bit his tongue, and drew in a deep breath, feeling unbridled rage, unwanted thoughts of Andrealphus.
She sauntered to the tank. "For as long as you lived with me, Orion, you hid your gift." Echidna rested her hand against the glass. "I thought I had failed. All along, you had my powers—but you kept them a secret from me."
She took a step backward, appraising him. “Therefore, I require a full battery of examinations to determine the full manifestation of your selected traits.” She smiled. “You’ve provided excellent insight and pushed me that much closer to the attainment of my goal.”
She sashayed to the other end of the tank.
Orion turned with her, following her movement each step of the way: he couldn’t trust her, not for a second.
Standing up on her toes, Echidna fumbled with a panel at the top of the tank, pushing a button. “It’s time you went to sleep.”
The Perfumes of Arabia :: Nightmare 7
XV.
“Lilith.” Ninkasi turned a sharp corner, skittering after her. “Will you tell me more about this place?”
They moved through a sanitized hall with ivory tiles and bleached-white walls, blinding pearly tube lights affixed to the ceiling.
Lilith didn’t turn around.
“What do they do here?” Ninkasi zoomed to her side, motioning to the black locked doors with golden bidents and ruby-eyed skulls. “Why was this place built? Why is it such a secret?”
Lilith glanced at her and lifted an eyebrow, as if she did not take her seriously.
Ninkasi threw her head back. “You live here, don’t you?!”
Lilith shook her head, lips pursed grimly. “I live here. I die here. It makes no difference.”
Her words raised the hair on Ninkasi’s arms.
“If this place must exist” —Lilith slowed her gait— “it is better the world knows nothing of it.”
“How can you say that?” Ninkasi tilted her head. “If the whole world knew about the degree of illegal experimentation—”
Throwing back her head, she cackled, her laugh dead like autumn leaves.
“What?” Ninkasi strode ahead of her.
“Illegal!” Lilith dismissed her with a wave of the hand. “Your laws are a farce.” Placing a hand against her chest, she regained composure. “I do agree this place is best destroyed.”
Aleister lifted his jagged finger. “Sweetheart, say no more!”
“I’m not referring to our surface facade, that little corporate building.” Lilith cast Aleister a reprimanding stare. “I wish this entire facility were wiped from existence, but it’s an impossible feat. The light of justice does not penetrate this deep into the earth.”
They walked in silence.
Lilith tilted her head to the side, slowing her pace. “It was why I sent him away, you know.”
“Orion?” Ninkasi looked at her with wide eyes.
“I arranged for his escape.” She bowed her head. “I wanted to spare him the eternity of being used by this place.”
“Used for what?” Ninkasi put a hand on the back of her head. “Experiments?”
“We were both created solely for the purpose of experimentation.” Lilith stared at her, emanating the invisible lick of flames with her eyes. “I thought—” She curled a tiny hand into a fist, and trembled, her voice breaking.
Ninkasi shuddered against the sudden riptide of emotion.
“I thought if Brother were to escape. . .” She pressed her fist into her chest. “He would start a new life and find happiness.”
Ninkasi looked to Aleister. “He did start a new life—”
She shook her head. “He never found happiness!” Her voice rose in pitch.
“How would you know?” Ninkasi softened her tone. “You haven’t seen him in a long time, right?”
Something twisted in Ninkasi’s stomach. She studied Lilith, her young and fragile frame; judging by appearances, Ninkasi was certain she was older than this little girl. How old did Lilith appear? Twenty? Eighteen? Younger still? She didn't know.
But something about the way Lilith spoke suggested she was older, much older—
“No passage of time could distance us.” Lilith lifted a delicate hand to her forehead. “I know him.” She shut her eyes. “I know how pensive he is. . .”
The trio rounded a corner; the next series of doors in the ivory corridor were built with windows, revealing glimpses of laboratories, strange equipment with levers, tubs large enough for bodies, beakers, bottles, exam tables.
“It’s been, what?” Lilith tilted her head back and laughed. “More than twenty years?” She shook her head. “He never left. He dwelled on it for this long. He never let it go. He waited this long to come back here, and for what?”
“To save you.” Aleister strode forward.
“He thinks I’m dead.” Lilith lifted a hand to her face.
Aleister knit his bushy brow. “Perhaps. . . to verify you’re dead?”