Earth-Ground (Genetically Altered Humans, #2)

by Rena Marks

  Tempest’s gaze followed her fingers, intrigued.

  “Does it hurt?” Robyn whispered.

  “I revel in the pain.”

  There was silence for a few seconds.

  “I can’t strip off my clothes and look for bruising to see where the bone is about to break through every time it happens.”

  “No,” Robyn agreed. “But I bet you can learn to focus on what you feel instead of what you see. Close your eyes.”

  For once, without an argument, Tempest complied.

  “What feels differently in this arm than the other?”

  “Heat,” she murmured. “I guess...pain. Almost like it hurts too good? I don’t quite feel that in the other arm.”

  “Good. Focus on that feeling. Does it run the length of your arm?”

  Tempest nodded.

  “That feeling is your cue.”

  “I get hot at first. Prickly at the nape of my neck. Then the heat is inside me, and I’m so angry I barely notice the pain. Because everything hurts when you’re angry.” Tempest tilted her head to the side as she spoke.

  “What happens when they put the strongest man in a locked room with a woman who’s angry?” Robyn whispered.

  “When we’re locked in?” Tempest shrugged. “I fight. He fights. We each have a goal. To kill the other.”

  She said it so matter of fact the words sent a chill down Robyn’s spine.

  Tempest continued. “I kill. He kills.”

  “But you’re both still alive.”

  “The...immature ones gassed us and separated us each time. Before death. They were afraid to lose one. But they betted, every event. Who would die. Whether or not I would be raped. Whether I’d slice him to ribbons even as he conquered me.”

  Oh, God. She’d been conquered. And deep down, that was why she refused to let Beast know. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself. She cared more than she’d ever admit.

  “It’s coming,” Tempest warned.

  Robyn pulled back just as the shard sliced through the inside of her elbow. Blood tinged the sharp fragment, marring the milky-white perfection of the bone.

  “Are you all right?”

  Her voice was nonchalant. “Some pains are worse than others.”

  “God, you’re a beast.” From the doorway, Jason’s voice sounded impressed. But just the word beast caused Tempest to momentarily freeze. Robyn wanted to groan. Of all the words he could have used, he chose that one, which on any other day would sound like a compliment.

  He continued on. “I’d love to train you to guard if that’s something that interests you.”

  A light flush of pink kissed Tempest’s cheeks. Robyn wasn’t sure if the training interested her or if the male attention from a human did. Tempest never showed the slightest leeway toward humans, so it must have been just one in particular.

  Jason.

  “Perhaps we can train you to control the breaks and retractions,” Robyn said.

  “You’d be a weapon like no other,” Jason said. “Imagine losing your guns and having hand to hand combat with someone. Controlling when a shard would break from the palm of your hand like a blade to slice your opponent’s throat.”

  “Control would be...good,” Tempest said, her interest on Jason.

  “I can help you.”

  “I will think about this some more.”

  “The edge of your wound is filling with a clear gel,” Robyn said. “But because blood comes through when your bone breaks, it’s unnoticeable at first. It simply looks bloody. But I think this is the same material that Blaze produces to seal himself when his wings burst forth.”

  Tempest sucked in a breath, and with that, her bone slowly began to move back into her arm.

  “What do you feel?” Robyn asked her.

  “Pain. More pain...than before.”

  “Adrenalin levels are lower,” Robyn said, glancing at the scanner. “So you’re more sensitive as the bone returns to where it should be. Can you take it in further?”

  Very smoothly, her bone was sucked back through the wound.

  “Now?” Jason asked her. “What is your pain level now?”

  “I feel heat in the arm where the shaving is joining the rest of the bone. Combining. It’s warm as if it’s melting into the original area.”

  “It’s already mending,” Robyn murmured, gaze on the tablet. “You’re amazing, Tempest.”

  “You can help Blaze figure out how to do his wing extraction more smoothly and probably with less pain,” Jason said. “He’d look up to you.”

  Tempest snatched her arm back from Robyn. “He is not my problem.”

  Jason looked confused. “But this wing-bursting-from-his-body thing is new. You can help him deal with the feelings—the emotions—while he adapts.”

  “Why? No one helped me,” she snarled.

  She rose and stomped to the door, swinging her arm out deliberately to sweep over a counter, knocking the metal pieces over noisily and sending them crashing to the floor.

  Out in the hallway, people jumped at the clatter.

  She slammed the door as she stormed out.

  “What?! What did I do?” Jason asked, bewildered.

  “Nothing,” Robyn said. She had a feeling, but she wasn’t sure about it. Tempest had a slight crush on Jason and had been reveling in his attention before he switched the situation to Blaze’s problem instead of hers. “It’s just Tempest. She’s volatile.”

  “Why?”

  “She’s working through a lot of crap that was done to her in captivity.”

  He winced. “Is that what you were talking about? I shouldn’t have intruded.”

  “It’s not a problem. We probably should wire the office to show a light on when it’s in use. But none of the Xeno Sapiens are used to any privacy. She’s just used to striking out. I think she feels a lot of guilt and doesn’t want to feel the pain of it, so she lashes out and refuses to help others. If she’s asked to. She helped Lily when she wasn’t asked. I think that’s the key, to let her do it on her own and eventually she’ll do it more and more.”

  He nodded grimly, his gaze still on the open doorway.

  “So what’s up?” Robyn asked, moving to pick up the implements Tempest had strewn across the floor. Despite her belly being small, it was hard. She had to widen her legs to balance herself.

  He came over to help her.

  “Your mother has entered an agreement with my ex-wife, Sherry. If Sherry fails to get a court order to allow her access to search Xenia, your mother wants to enter for her. She’s agreed to wear a wire to record the event and sell the footage to Sherry.”

  “That’s illegal,” Robyn snapped, her hand shaking. Instant heat roiled up chest and neck as she caught Jason’s sympathetic look.

  “Not for Sherry. She has her investigator’s license in addition to her law defense.”

  “Damn it.”

  “There’s too much curiosity about Xenia. We thought we could appease it by showing glimpses of Lily here and there, but it’s only stirred up more. People want to know what’s behind the locked gates.”

  “We need to give them something.”

  “Unfortunately. And yet we have to protect our people in the meantime.”

  “In the good ole days, gossip would die down when it wasn’t fed. Now with today’s constant media presence, everyone demands to know everything that’s going on. There’s no such thing as privacy.”

  “You’ve lived on Earth-Ground too long,” Jason smiled. “You had a false sense of security from that.”

  She sighed, holding her hand to her back as she stood up. “Probably.”

  “Are you okay?” Jason asked.

  “Just a backache for some unknown reason.”

  Jason raised his eyebrows. “Um, pregnancy?”

  She laughed. “Not this early. Most women don’t even realize they are pregnant until at least three months along.”

  But she had the perfect idea on how to thwart her mother. Before she cou
ld intrude on her space and sell the footage for money, Robyn intended to have the story out by another outlet. It would lower the value.

  She just had to figure out which media outlets to invite.

  Chapter Twelve

  Three months later:

  “Dr. Robyn Saraven. An incoming call from the President of the Earth world.” The computer-generated voice was loud. From out in the main area, Jason, Amanda, and Renegade came in and stood next to Steele, behind Robyn’s camera where they could avoid being seen but could listen in.

  Steele glanced at her and then pushed the button to accept the vidcam.

  “Dr. Saraven, good morning. I thought you’d like to know Counselor Becker’s petition to search Xenia was denied about ten minutes ago.”

  Of course. There was no reason for the petition to be granted. Robyn was confident in her judgment program and its fairness.

  “Thank you for letting me know.” Surely there was another reason for the call? She could easily have found out about the granting later during the day when she was officially notified.

  “There’s something else. My office is being plagued with phone calls from Lady Glory Saraven of Epsilon Five.”

  Robyn sighed. “She’s been calling here, too. After a number of attempts to connect, I have spoken to her finally.” She smiled, even though it was a bit forced. “We were missing each other’s calls.”

  “Did you? That’s good. You know, the requests aren’t brought to me until they number fifty in quantity. Usually, I can assume by then it’s already handled.”

  “In this case, it is.” Robyn avoided wincing. Her mother had called him at least fifty times?

  “Then one last detail to iron out. We’ve received a request from nine media outlets to be granted special permission to enter Xenia.”

  “That is correct. Jason Becker intends to show them around and prove that there are no Crested Ute prisoners being held here. A matter of public relations.”

  “The special permission packet is to override the Xenia rules and allow them to retain their Earth citizenship and protection during the visit.”

  “I would appreciate if the permission is denied. We will still allow them in, but it will be under our rules. They have the choice of accepting our boundaries or declining to enter.”

  “Understood. I have the packets on my desk as we speak. I will deny each one if you will make it clear that they enter at their own risk.”

  “I’ll have my people draw up the paperwork immediately, explaining the risks and alleviating the government from all responsibility.”

  “That is appreciated. Good luck and blessings to you.”

  “Thank you. May your wisdom prosper.”

  The call disconnected immediately.

  “He’s become your best friend,” Jason said.

  “Politics.” Robyn shrugged. “Everyone sucks up to the one who holds the power. And right now, we still do.”

  “What happens when the world forgets the government was the bad guys in the Xeno Sapien affairs?”

  “We deal with it then. Let’s run over the plans again, shall we?” Robyn waited for Jason to signal Shawn to enter her office. She’d been unusually stressed lately. Amanda and Irina had been monitoring her hormone levels, and so far she’d been within reasonable ranges. It was odd, because the stress occurred just after the twelfth week of pregnancy, which was considered the safe zone.

  Everyone had gathered into her smaller office and was waiting for her to speak. With a push of a button, she brought up the charts on the wall. “The security team will escort the media onto Xenia from the main gates. I’ll be here, inside Systems, monitoring how many new people are admitted. If there’s a breach, I’ll sound the emergency alarm and we’ll go into lockdown. If not, we’ll begin the tour of the planned buildings, staying close to the inner perimeter. After the tour, they’ll run them by the main building where I’ll remain seated behind the computer so they don’t see my thickened middle and assume it’s a pregnancy, especially since everyone knows of my relationship with Steele. I’ll pretend to be busy, and we’ll wrap it up, escorting them from the premises.”

  “You will be busy, I’m sure,” Jason grinned. “You’ll be scanning the DNA of everyone here, making sure there is nothing unusual that comes about.”

  “You got that right.” Robyn’s eyebrow rose quickly, lowering just as fast. “It should run smoothly, but I don’t trust anyone at this point. Questions?”

  “Have we determined which security teams will man the other gates?”

  “The head of security—Jason’s team—will remain in the inner vicinity, close to the media. Shawn’s team, taking Blaze and Tempest along, will be in charge of the west gates. If the alarm is sounded, those two will man the security gates and the human members of the team will be the ones rounding up the teens and sending them into bunkers for safety. The other security teams will stay at the gates to make sure there are no other breaches. Renegade’s job is to protect Amanda, loop in all the Xeno Sapiens on their mental link and notify them as to what’s going on, which bunkers to report to, etc. He’ll also have the other doctors with him, since this is their first run-in with the media since they’ve come to Xenia. I’ll stay here in the main hub under Steele’s protection, hiding behind my desk covertly. This last building should go quickly as it’s at the end of the tour. We’ll avoid delaying them unnecessarily and will move them right along, all the way back out the front gates. Anything else?”

  “I’d suggest breaking the teens into two groups for confusion in case they’re considered easy pickings. And also because it’s hard to handle all seven at once,” Shawn said, with a grimace.

  “Done,” Robyn said. “Good idea. That’s the last chaos we need, the children pretending to be some kind of superheroes.”

  “They think they should be allowed to wear special gear marking them as the only teenagers. With capes. They haven’t come to you with the idea yet because they can’t decide amongst themselves on a color.”

  “We’ll nix that idea by letting them know they’d be standing targets,” Renegade said. “Who came up with that one?”

  Shawn smirked. “Lily.”

  All heads swiveled to Jason. “You’re in charge of pointing out the intricacies of remaining hidden.”

  Jason looked baffled and then sighed. “Agreed.”

  Robyn smiled. “It’ll go easier if you make it seem like an undercover spy lesson.”

  His brow cleared. “Ahh. That makes sense.”

  “Okay then,” Robyn said. “Three teens will go into bunker six, and four will go into bunker twelve. It doesn’t matter which go where; just count heads.”

  Jason cracked his knuckles. “Let’s do this then.”

  SOMETIMES EVEN THE best laid plans don’t run smoothly. Robyn stared out the window, the eyeglasses she wore acting as binoculars. Even with the enhanced vision, all the action was out of her range. She never thought to test the binocular spectacles that Pax and Steele had made for distance. That was on her because she should have known better.

  The media should be at the gates by now, being inspected, but she hadn’t heard or seen a thing. The radio transmission had been exceptionally quiet, which sparked Robyn’s paranoia. Already the plans were going awry. Steele was supposed to be in here with her, but he was zoning out, communicating with the others telepathically. For the most part, she let him, knowing it was important for him to be kept up to date, but his quietness was unnerving.

  “Steele? What’s going on out there?”

  “Plans have changed. The doctors are still in the medical wing, but they’re alone. Renegade is with Pax at the gates. Something has caused his other personas to split from his body. He can’t stop it. There are roughly six.”

  “What’s causing him to split into multiples?”

  Steele shrugged. “When he discovered the ability the first time, it was due to stress. He was helping Renegade wake Amanda after we discovered you both injected yourselves w
ith Quinteah, remember?”

  “Is something stressing him?”

  “Not this time. He’s baffled by the split but unable to round them back in. Plus, that first time he only manifested three. Now there’s double that. Each one has a piece of his personality.”

  “Tell him to just hold on until we’re able to escort the media away from the gates. When they’re distracted by the tour, Amanda will check him out and see what’s causing this.”

  She pulled up her DNA imprint screen to turn her attention to the body count at the front doors. There were over a dozen new bodies within the gates of Xenia. What the hell was going on at the front gates? She could have sworn there were going to be only nine reporters from various outlets. Did they sneak in more cameramen? They’d allowed one, and he was to share the footage with the rest.

  She swiveled the main gate cameras onto the small crowd to get a visual for the media. She counted the human bodies.

  Ten.

  Back to the computer count. Sixteen newcomers.

  What. The. Hell.

  The math wasn’t adding up. Her finger twitched, hovering over the alarms that would signal an intrusion. She had to make sure. She didn’t want their paranoia to show if nothing was amiss.

  Then it dawned on her. Pax had an extra six multiples of himself. There were six extra bodies on Xenia while the present media had only ten.

  She released her breath on a swoosh. She’d come so close to flipping the trigger that her finger shook.

  God, they would have looked like paranoid idiots if she’d sent them all into an unnecessary lockdown. The media would have filmed everything.

  A heat blip on the screen showed someone heading her way. The warmer temperature signified a Xeno approaching.

  “It’s Pax,” Steele said, his voice still in a monotone. “I’m going to check on the others in the west wing while he’s here to watch over you. Renegade has not been able to leave the gate as he’s directing Pax’s multiples where to go.”

  Robyn nodded.

  Pax entered the building; she could hear his footsteps tread lightly down the hallway. Once he was in the main area, she watched through the large glass windows of her office as he approached, stopping at the edge of the desk in front of her. For a brief second, she wondered if this was him or if it was...one of his selves. How would she know? Last time he’d separated, Beast had assured her they were exact copies of Pax and no one could tell them apart.