by Dan Glover
"Do you ever think about having a baby, Marilyn?"
"No... I never considered it. You sound wistful, Karen. Do you regret taking a woman as a lover and not a man?"
"What man is there to take?"
"Well... Kirk isn’t such a bad lay as men go."
Marilyn giggled but Karen felt uncomfortable discussing other lovers. They'd never talked about Marilyn's dalliance with the village boy whose life they saved so long ago, at least not in so many words. Karen was mortified the day she came home unexpectedly and discovered the boy in their bed.
She was recruited by Lady Lauren to assist in the harvesting of sea salt along the east coast of England at the Wash. It was a trip that usually took all day but luck was with them. A few years ago Nate built a large saltern which collected sea water from the tides washing in and held it to evaporate in the sun, leaving behind mounds of salt.
From past visits to the Wash they knew an ambush of tigers orange and black lived in the salt marshes... they escaped from the London zoo or perhaps were set loose by a dying zoo keeper as a last act of penitence. Well-fed creatures posing no real threat to the People it was deemed better to keep alert for their presence than to ignore the danger.
Karen served as lookout so she stood on a promontory rise looking out over the Wash while Lady Lauren and two other girls Ginger and Amanda scooped salt into canvas sacks with small garden shovels. An ocean breeze caressed her silky hair and forehead as white on black sea birds cried out overhead fluttering in mid air but never alighting.
The People grew all their own food in vast gardens around the castle. They raised livestock to butcher periodically: chickens ranged free as did cattle and sheep. There were still a few items that could be salvaged from slowly deteriorating grocery stores such as coffee and certain dry goods. But the People preferred sea salt over the kind once mined from great salt caverns. For some reason, the salt from the Wash tasted best.
Her senses on high alert, Karen scanned the horizon for signs of movement. Having been on several salt gathering trips she knew the female tigers and cubs normally slept during the heat of midday but the males were unpredictable wanderers apt to show up at any time.
She spotted motion in the tall grasses growing thick and lush by the sea. Though a breeze tickled the top of the prairie marsh this movement was indicative of a large animal making its stealthy way through the undergrowth. Taking the binoculars that hung around her neck she studied the area. Her heart leapt as she spotted the tiger. It was still a good kilometer away but moving in the general direction of their group.
Testing the breeze by wetting a finger and holding it aloft she noted they were downwind from the tiger's position; Karen doubted it had picked up their scent. She considered calling out to Lauren and the girls but the danger seemed remote as of yet. She watched, her anxiety increasing with each passing moment. She wondered what it would feel like, the rush of the tiger, the knockdown, that first bite, the second.
The tiger meandered through the marshes as Lauren and the girls gathered all the salt which collected in the saltern. Finishing, Lauren called to Karen to come down from her perch... they were ready to go home. Her adrenaline still flowing, she clamored into the back seat of the Jeep Grand Cherokee still expecting the tiger to come leaping out of the high grass at any second.
Arriving back at the castle she helped unload the bags of salt before going to the rooms in the high west wing that she shared with Marilyn. When she entered the apartment an unfamiliar odor assailed her nostrils as she heard strange noises emanating from the bedroom. She paused a moment outside the door, wondering if she really wanted to see what was happening on the other side.
As she stood there the door opened startling her. Marilyn started to walk out. She was nude and she tried to shut the door behind her quickly enough that Karen couldn’t see who else was in there.
"Oh.... I didn’t expect you home so soon, Karen."
"What is he doing in our bed?"
Her senses still on high alert from watching for tigers Karen saw Kirk doing his best to hide beneath the sheets before Marilyn could close the door all the way. Her heart dropped into her stomach. She felt as if she might retch. Marilyn smiled at her with her brown eyes flashing the way they did when she was caught in a lie.
"Why are you doing this to me, Marilyn?"
"Excuse me, Karen... I better get dressed."
Karen retreated from their apartment slamming the door as she went. She spent the night in one of the vacant rooms on the fifth floor with an old-fashion four poster bed dominating the space. She scavenged sheets and blankets and pillows from one of the well-stocked linen closets, lay down to sleep, but sleep wouldn’t come.
Opening up her laptop Karen pulled up the database she downloaded on their trip to CDC headquarters. She was particularly interested in the research being done on creating sperm cells from stem cells. In the months leading up to the Great Dying the Japanese perfected a method using leftover embryos from invitro-fertilization programs. Luckily all the details were laid out in a paper she accessed from the database.
Apparently the research in Great Britain ground to a halt when the government got involved. There were those more concerned with the five hundred embryos destroyed during the research than they were with the five hundred thousand embryos routinely discarded each year during abortions... lunatics, all.
Karen shook her head at the lunacy of it all. Pulling up the paper she read on. She became convinced she would be able to replicate the work of the Japanese with the tools she had on hand. Not only that, but she had the foresight to freeze the dozen unused embryos from the birth of Nate.
Shutting the laptop she fell into fitful slumbers dreaming of being chased by orange and black tiger cubs with white teeth sharp and brilliant and Velcro claws that would not let go.
Chapter 31—Colors Changing Hue
A soft breeze wafted over Natalia's skin.
She lay on the bed not wanting to move a muscle as Lily slept cradled in her arms. Pink and blue morning broke over Lake Baikal as through the open window Natalia heard distant roosters begin their incessant crowing hoping the cacophony will not awaken her lover.
The home where they slept apparently once belonged to Lily's family. It sat empty for many long years before the two of them returned on a warm July afternoon tired from their long journey and yet ecstatic at finally arrived at their destination.
"Do you think they will follow us, darling Lily?"
Natalia was concerned with the man and woman who tried to accost her lover back at the train depot in Moscow. She wanted to end it then but Lily stayed her hand.
"Yes, my love, I know they will. These people will never stop until I am back in their cage or until I am dead and cut open so they can discover my secret."
"But what have you done to them that they believe you belong in prison?"
"I've done nothing, sweet Natalia. What those people desired I tendered freely. Yet they refused my offer. Instead they wanted to take what I have by force. They did not understand. If I died, what I possessed would go with me."
"Will we see others of your kind here, darling Lily?"
"That will astound me, my lovely Natalia. The last time I was here I saw only my sister. I dove deep into the lake the way I did when I was younger but the waters that used to be so clear were clouded with choking chemicals. See? They dump their waste right into the Lake."
Lily pointed to the twin smokestacks of the paper mill across the Lake belching black filth into the air. A thousand kilometers of trucks lined up bringing their loads of freshly-cut timber to be ground into pulp. Even from this vantage point several kilometers away she could see a half dozen yellow pipes that must have been two meters in diameter running from beneath the factory to dump steady torrents of foul-looking yellow water into the Lake.
"Why doesn’t anyone stop them, darling Lily?"
"The paper mill provides jobs for the villagers here. No one cares if the mill pollutes
the Lake. These same villagers used to fish the Lake for their food but now they have to buy cans of Spam at the grocery store. The fish are no good to eat."
"Why did you come back here, sweet Lily?"
"This whole place is magical for my people. Even though I may not go back into the waters the close proximity to the Lake allows my body to replenish itself. In that way we are like electric batteries recharging themselves... these hills, the mountains, all combine to focus the energy of the Lake allowing me to tap into it."
"How long will we stay?"
"I would love to stay here forever with you, my lovely Natalia. But these memories I have of this place make me so sad. All my people are gone. There were tens of thousands of us at one time. How can everyone but me have vanished? I do not understand such a thing. I feel so alone here."
"You have me, my love."
"I do. I'm sorry sweet Natalia. I am so lucky to have you with me. Otherwise I fear I will throw myself into the Lake and perish."
"Come, let us clean this cabin. It is so dusty. Why has no one moved into it?"
"My people are feared by the villagers. They will never live in a home where we have been."
"What are they scared of? How can any be afraid of such sweet people, my darling Lily?"
"Perhaps they fear disease... or maybe our ancient ghosts... if the moon is full we might look out over the Lake and see them dancing like many changing colors on the shining waters. It is true that we are not always so sweet, either. You see my good side because I love you, darling Natalia. If we are angered, we can be terrifying to behold.
"A long time ago when we first began coming to shore a mob of humans appeared in our settlement. They were angry at our presence, preparing to force us back under the waters of the Lake. This mob killed some of my kind until the rest of us put an end to it.
"We wished to go back into the Lake too, back to our home... to our castle deep beneath the waves. But the monsters were hungry. I persuaded my family to come to the surface to live after many of us were eaten alive by those things. Now the humans wished to kill us too."
"What kinds of monsters live in the Lake, darling Lily?"
"There are creatures that live in the deep water. I do not understand why they suddenly appeared in the shallow waters. Perhaps their food supply floundered; perhaps they were driven out of the depths by the pollution pouring into the Lake. The monsters are like the sharks that live in the oceans and similar to the crocodiles that live in the swamps of the world. Perhaps these creatures are an ancient mixture of both.
"Once they have you they never let go. These monsters grabbed us and then rolled into the deepest part of the Lake where my people were not able to survive. The pressure of the waters piled above was too much for our bodies."
"So you were forced from your home?"
"We were forced from the waters by gigantic monsters and surrounded on the land by hostile creatures as well. Many fierce battles were fought. Many human beings died, many more than our kind, but there were far fewer of us than of them."
"Why didn’t your people leave and go someplace else where no one knew what you were? You might have been happy there, at least happier than here."
"Some of us did leave. I was the first of my kind to leave the shores of Lake Baikal. I am the inquisitive one... first to leave the Lake waters, first to depart the shores. I wandered into Russia and farther east into parts of Europe. I saw wonderful sights and met humans who were unlike the hateful villagers at Lake Baikal. This encouraged me to go home and tell the others.
"Several of them left with me, my sister too. For a moment we lived happily together but as time grew long we scattered to different countries. Perhaps some are still alive. I like to think so. I thought I could make a life in the world like the friends and lovers of mine but this place kept calling me back. If I did not return I too would fade away and our kind would cease to be."
"It's hard losing everyone you love. I share this sorrow with you, my lovely Lily. Perhaps we are destined to be lovers to the end of the world."
"Is this something you have dreamed of, my treasure, like our little stone cabin?"
"Honestly, I never had a thing for women before meeting you, my wonderful Lily. But now you're all I desire, all I need, and all I will ever want."
A knock sounded at the door. Natalia looked to her lover perplexed and alarmed. Neither of them made a move from the bed. The knock sounded again, louder this time, more insistent.
"Do you think it is those people who pursue you?"
"No, sweet Natalia, I do not. If it were them they would not knock. Let me go to see who it is. Stay here, please."
Natalia watched as Lily pulled a robe over her naked body and stepped from the room. She leaned over to her purse pulling out the gun she had stolen back in Moscow. Natalia was ready to defend her lover to the death if need be.
A second later she heard a cry of surprise from the living room... leaping from the bed Natalia still naked rushed to Lily with the gun raised and her finger on the trigger.
Chapter 32—Paradise
Lily was content.
While this should be a good thing she recalled other precious moments in her life as happy ones only to watch them crumble to naught before her eyes.
Little Maon was just learning to walk. His large feet with webbed toes made for excellent balance as he toddled about the castle. The child mastered swimming in an instant as if he knew he was made for the water.
Karen often stopped by the rooms in the lower west wing of the castle where they lived. She brought Maon gifts, little things she made especially for him. In the beginning Lily sensed Karen had some ulterior motives in mind but over the past year they had grown nearly as close as sisters.
"I hope you don’t mind me stopping by so much, Lady Lily. I like it here. You and Nate seem so comfortable and little Maon is such a treasure."
Karen and Lily were sharing a late breakfast while Maon napped and Nate was in his shop working on his latest gadget, a water heater powered by wind to replace the old wood boiler that had to be stoked with wood every morning.
"You are always welcome here, sweet Karen. May I share something with you?"
"Whatever is said here stays here, Lady Lily. You may tell me anything."
"I know Maon is just a baby yet but I am already planning who will be his mate. None of the girls here measure up to the man he'll become. I don't intend that in a mean way... it is my dream that he finds a special someone... all these girls are so dull."
"He is a precocious little guy; I'll give you that. Who do you have in mind if none of the girls measure up?"
"I see the way you are around Maon. I think you'll make an excellent mother, sweet Karen, and you're so smart. Have you ever thought about having a baby?"
"Actually, yes I have... when I see Marilyn with Kirk I feel a little envious. But then I think: who will be the father of my child?"
"I see the way you look at Nate."
"I would never do anything with him to jeopardize our friendship, Lady Lily. I hope you know that."
"My species is much more open when it comes to sex than human beings. You and he are free to do what you will. It will not affect our relationship, darling Karen, I promise. I am teasing you.
"I know we must take care that we do not inbreed at the beginning. A girl child by Nate will be too closely related to Maon. This is why we cautioned young Nate not to enter into relationships with other girls during his early years. His line must remain pure at the beginning."
"Kirk is the only other who could serve as a father. What do you think of him?"
"I think he is a dullard. You know that as well. Do we want to breed a race of imbeciles, sweet Karen?"
"He is the only other male, Lady Lily. But I have an idea I'll run past you. It might work or it might not but I think it's worth trying. While we were at CDC headquarters I downloaded a database of all the latest work in the fertilization field. I thought it might come in handy an
d the download only took a few minutes.
"I discovered that the Japanese developed a method of creating sperm cells from stem cells using leftover embryos not implanted during certain invitro-fertilizations. The powers that be in England outlawed the procedure almost immediately claiming it was immoral to destroy living embryos. The research ground to a halt.
"When we used the process to impregnate Natalia there were a dozen embryos left over. Rather than destroy them I decided to freeze them. They are still in storage. We wouldn’t be able to use those embryos to create a mate for Maon since they are too closely related to him.
"However, I believe I can use those embryos to glean stem cells and in turn create sperm. Then, by removing the nucleus and replacing it with the nucleus of another donor the resulting sperm will no longer pose any risk of inbreeding and yet the blending of the species will remain intact. We'll just need to procure another donor.
"There is another man frozen in nitrogen in the Centers for Disease Control headquarters. He was infected with Lake Baikal syndrome just as Lance Adams was. We can use this man. If I recall correctly his name was Harry. I don’t remember his last name."
"Ah yes... Harry: I'm sorry to say I infected him the day I escaped from there. I bartered with him for a train ticket to Paris. Like Lance I gave him a chance to go with me. Like Lance he refused and so he too died."
"I remember how I sent Marilyn a memo from Paris saying it was imperative they did not perform an autopsy on that man. Instead the corpse was to be brought to the CDC where they were to freeze it. If this man was frozen within twenty four hours of his death we are in luck. Posthumous motile sperm extraction is nearly a hundred percent successful if the corpse is frozen within a day after death. So I believe this is a viable option."
"You seem extremely well versed in this field, darling Karen."
"I spent a number of years studying invitro-fertilization techniques even while I worked at the CDC. Honestly, I hated that place. Keeping you locked up seemed so cruel. You have no idea how I longed to just let you go."