After that, Jaelyn and Morgan had started their engineering of Humans in the bordertowns, cultivating the first of several generations of powered Humans, the fourth or fifth generation of which should have been strong enough to produce ahhiels that were sufficient to cure their sick children. It was during his time in the bordertowns that Morgan fell in love with one particular Human, who would become Ian and Lena’s mother.
Morgan stepped through the door, nodded at Smoke, and strode up to Nivia to lay a hand on her arm.
How is she? Ian asked.
She does well. I think it was successful, but we must wait and see.
You don’t think she’ll hunger?
No. You wife was strong. Morgan tentatively reached out to Ian, in the way Ian would have done to Mercy if she had been suffering. The touch was like a hug, or like grasping the arms comfortingly. It felt awkward, but Ian permitted it, and even nodded his head in thanks.
I am sorry, Ian. My son.
Ian could feel the man’s sorrow, regret and sincere compassion. He knew Ian’s loss. He still felt the separation from Ian’s mother, even though many years that had passed since her...
Suddenly, it was more than Ian could deal with. He pulled away from his father, commenting, “I know.” Then he pushed his emotions back. It was getting harder to do; each time he tried to stuff the pain away, less and less fit in the box. Soon it was going to start to spilling out. Ian gripped Faith’s hand tightly and then set it down carefully on the white sheet.
Morgan grimly kept his eyes on his work and, when he had finished reviewing the readouts on the machines monitoring Nivia, he said aloud in Kin, “We need to begin the preparations for moving the unaffected children.”
“Why?” Smoke asked.
“Because they will be in danger from the others, and since they are less numerous…”
“Why not just finish off the evil ones?” Smoke asked bluntly.
Morgan shuttered slightly at the suggestion, and at the heartless way it was offered. “It is forbidden.”
“It is forbidden,” Smoke repeated, his tone darkening.
“Yes.” Morgan waited. Ian could see that his father both knew what was coming and permitted it.
“It is forbidden to take a life? Any life, or just their lives?”
Morgan did Smoke the honor of answering directly and without attempting to skirt the issue, “It is forbidden to take the life of the People. It is not forbidden to take lesser lives.”
Smoke’s spine straightened and his shoulders pulled back. Ian thought it was particularly ironic for a Kin to be appalled by a philosophy that so closely resembled his own people’s. Very few Kin thought twice about the Human suffering that resulted directly from the actions and inaction of the Kin. However, he wasn’t about to provoke Smoke by saying anything about it. In fact, in part because he was curious and in part to prevent an escalation of the confrontation, Ian spoke before his brother-in-law could, “Is that what you think, Father?”
Morgan blinked at the title and then swallowed before answering, “That is what we were raised to think. That is what our scriptures teach us. That is the word of our gods…”
“You didn’t answer me.”
“That is what I thought before I met your mother. After that, I began to question my people’s beliefs. Heh, your mother had a difficult job. She was the one whose task it was to unteach me everything I had learned. Unfortunately, I was a poor student. It wasn’t until after she died that I finally understood.”
They waited.
“No. I do not believe that it is acceptable to take lesser lives, and yes, I have done it anyway. I have done many horrible things, more even than you will ever be aware of. I will not defend my choices; most of them are indefensible, from your perspective. I did what I thought was right at the time, even unto permitting your friend’s entrance to this place, knowing full well he would lose his life.”
He thought for a moment before he went on. “I know them, the children, every one of them. They are my family. I have killed for them and was ready to do it again... But then you, Ian, and your sister came, and I was put in a difficult position, because I found that I cared for you too, and, by association, your family. So...how to choose? Again, I did today what I thought was the right thing, but, from their perspective, it may well have been the wrong choice. As they die, one by one, with serviceable ahhiels just minutes away…”
“You’re talking about my wife...not just some…” Smoke snarled.
“Yes, her life, and without a doubt your children as well, when they mature…” He held up his hands when Smoke rose angrily from his chair. “Daughter’s husband, I am not threatening them. On the contrary, I have risked everything to protect them. I am merely saying that I have accepted the cost of that decision. Do you see?”
“What? My children’s lives for their lives?”
“No,” Ian said, finally understanding what his father was saying. “The cost of the decision. The price is life, one way or the other, but the true cost is the burden of choice. You are wrong either way you choose: save our children or yours. Neither life should be lost. No one should have to die, so that another should live.”
“That’s right. The only way to make the right choice is to keep the choice from coming before you. That is, look far enough ahead to prevent the choice from occurring. Since I could not do that, I pay the price. I will bear the burden of the choice, and I will carry the sin.”
“How could you have prevented it?” Smoke asked.
The man shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe by having found a cure sooner. I could have worked harder or smarter. I guess I could have prevented my own involvement by giving my own life, but to be honest, I never considered that. I could have walked away, left this place. No, I never seriously considered that either, even when my wife begged me to. I hadn’t learned enough by then. The price for that was very high as well.” He rubbed his forehead with the tips of his fingers. “In any case, to answer your earlier question, Smoke, I cannot take their lives, although I will admit that allowing them to die is not that far removed.”
“No. It is very different, Father.” Ian decided that he could get comfortable using "Father." It had a nice ring to it.
“I must begin moving the children now. Will you help me?”
“Yes,” Ian said, trusting his control enough to let his fingers skim along Faith's body as he walked to the end of the bed. “Are we moving Nivia as well?”
“Yes, she can be first. We can take her on the bed. The rest will involve transporting the tanks. Perhaps we could enlist the help of some of your non-powered family members?” He started unplugging the machines that they would take with them.
“I’m sure we can get some help. Are we going to the hospital?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Smoke moved the chair out of the way and took a hold of the side railing. “Jaelyn brought us here for this, right? To be...used like this?”
“Yes. It was arranged long ago.”
“What?”
“I now know that she had planned to use all of you, ever since the strength of your abilities was measured years ago.”
“Who?” Ian asked.
“Scythe certainly. She merely waited until he grew stronger, to be sure. But, she didn’t want him hurt while she waited, so she arranged the refuge at the winery…”
“What? How?” Ian exclaimed, stopping automatically. His hold on the railing jerked the bed to a halt halfway out of the room.
Morgan answered, “A suggestion to the ruler of Poinsea, presenting him with the documents and implanting the notion in his mind that it was a family estate. Later, she kept tabs on you with a few key spies living there.” He pulled lightly on the bed and they continued down the hall.
“Spies? Who?”
“I don’t know. Jaelyn handled it. I doubt even they know.” He grinned, “She was quite put out when he didn’t immediately run and hide himself there like she had planned. Instead, he
began to work for the Scere, putting himself in situations much more dangerous than anything he would have encountered in Poinsea.”
“All that manipulation, for years and years, just on the off chance…” Smoke said, shaking his head and stepping forward to open a door so they could push the bed through it and into the next hallway.
“Ten years is not that long when you have worked for a hundred...As for it being a lot of work...it was, but the opportunity for success was too much to ignore. We had become desperate for any positive heading to take.”
“Scythe and who else?”
“Anyone strongly powered. I know that since Scythe turned out to be so powerful, she was hoping for a similar result from the other half-Kin, half-Human children. I was skeptical, though. We’ll see in a few years.”
“Why were you skeptical?”
“I researched Scythe’s background, trying to determine why his ability was levels higher than the Humans we had been tracking. His mother was from one of our lines. That isn’t too remarkable, because we have been very thorough in our experiments in the bordertowns. She was the third generation, which put her and any of her children on our watch list. An ideal match for her would have been a third generation male, of course. However, she ended up with a Kin of all things. That took her children out of consideration.
“Then Jaelyn ran into Scythe in the bordertown laboratory where he was infected by the biological terrorists. That was one of the few times when we chose to intervene in the business of the other races. Usually we don’t have the time or inclination, but we have a particular hatred for biological weapons, especially diseases. It was her third visit to their operation. She made sure that, while they thought their work was progressing well, it would never be viable. She had a vision about him while she was there. She knew he would eventually come here and be the donor for her son. So she made sure to keep an eye on him after that.”
“So his meeting us was just...a big coincidence?” Ian asked incredulously.
“Apparently. We didn’t have anything to do with that, but it is a startling coincidence, because Jaelyn also had a vision about Mercy, years later.”
“Really?”
“Yes. She had many visions; she was always tinkering with the future. While she was traveling through the Southern Sun on another errand, she had a strong vision which drew her to a burned out warehouse; there she found one powerful survivor who we were already watching.”
“The warehouse explosion, where she was trapped in the refrigerator?”
He nodded, “Jaelyn healed her, I believe, but her vision showed her that she would not remove her, so she called for help and left her there.”
“She...she was the woman who reported the fire? We...our unit was looking for her, but never found her. Did she know that Scythe was coming?”
“I don’t know the details. Only that. Here we are.”
They arrived at the hospital and wheeled Nivia into an unoccupied room. Smoke went down the hall to talk to Harmony who was waiting on a chair by a door. Then he went inside the room behind her. Ian and Morgan moved an existing bed into the hallway and rolled Nivia into the free slot. Together they began setting up the equipment.
“We’ll take this bed with us for the next child,” Morgan said when they were done. They started walking back to the laboratory.
Ian nodded and sent a ribbon into the room that he knew Will was waiting in. He found his son easily and spoke with him. Son, how are you?
I’m okay, Dad. What are you doing? Right away, Ian knew that he wasn’t okay; he was devastated. Ian cursed himself and wondered why he was still asking dumb questions after all the years he had lived with Scythe.
We’re moving some of the sick children.
Why? Will’s angry reaction was instantaneous. He was shocked that they could be helping them.
Because they need help, Will. Ian could hear a whole list of furious retorts, but instead of letting them out, Will kept silent. I’ll be there as soon as I can, Will. Watch out for everyone, will you?
I will. His son stewed. So many emotions were swirling around him: anger, fear, and a terrible grief. He too was struggling to stay in control. It reminded Ian how important it was for him to keep it together. His family needed him.
I love you, son.
I love you, Dad.
I’ll be back soon.
Okay. That...that would be good.
Ian sent a quick inquiry to Smoke and discovered that he was chatting with Lena, who was recovering very well, and would follow with volunteers shortly.
Morgan had been silent, and Ian wondered if he could sense when Ian was talking to someone else. He thought that the man probably could, because the moment that Ian was done, the man continued. “The interesting thing about Scythe is that he gets power from his father’s side as well.”
“Really? How?” His father’s side?
“Early on, we worked in a limited capacity with both Kin and Humans. The Kin gave us no results, either with genetic manipulation or even when they carried half our genetic legacy…”
“There are halfbloods that are of the People and Kin?”
“There were, several generations back. They were children of a sister of mine, Oniesa, who left our home many years ago. I do not know what happened to her and Jaelyn never spoke of it afterwards. She had worked for decades with Jaelyn before I was...before I took the ahhiel of an unusually talented powered Human and healed myself. After a while, she could not handle the work any longer. She bore three children in Jaelyn’s service: all were half Kin and not one showed potential for having power. One after another they were taken from Oneisa and left with Kin families. Jaelyn had no interest in them and would not permit them to remain here. Each separation was hard on Oniesa, and after the third, she left.”
“Jaelyn was a real monster.”
“She did what she thought was right. If it were Will and Mercy sick in that room, or Lena’s children, you might not know what you would do to preserve them.”
Ian thought about it while they silently rolled the empty bed down the hall. Finally, he had to admit that he agreed with Morgan. He knew what he thought he should or would do, but, until the decision was in front of him, he couldn’t be sure.
When Mercy had gone missing years ago in the middle of a terrorist raid on Quo Ire, he had become desperate to find her and he had caught himself thinking some very unethical, violent things. If it were Mercy or Will floating in one of those tanks, would he just sit by and watch them die? Would he kill innocent people to save them? The only sure thing was that it would be difficult, either way. “You may be right.”
“Scythe’s father wasn’t originally from Poinsea. His family was from an area close to the Capital...”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Yes. I discovered that Scythe is descended from one of Oniesa’s children. It has been a few generations since we stopped devoting our resources to the Kin. Now, it looks like we may have been hasty, after all.”
“That’s incredible.”
“It is, but not as much as you might think, not impossibly so. The Kin have very large families and they marry young. Oniesa’s three children have produced one hundred eighty-two grandchildren that I have been able to locate.”
“One hundred eighty-two!”
Morgan nodded. “Four to five in the first generation, and an average of three to four in each of the subsequent ones. Most are still in the Capital or in the local area, since Kin families like to stay close to each other. The only reason why Scythe the elder wasn’t there was that his mother followed her husband to a position in Poinsea.”
“Did any of Oniesa’s other descendants show signs of having power?”
“I haven’t had a chance to check most of them. The Kin don’t document such things, so it is difficult to determine without personally checking each one, which I haven’t had an opportunity to do. Of the ones that I have researched, there is no sign of power. Perhaps in the next generation
…”
“And no other halfbloods?”
“None.”
Once they arrived back at the laboratory, Morgan punched a code into the display of a column just inside the door and the stone wall lifted up, revealing another nearly hairless, bony child floating in a cylindrical tank. Then he bent down and began to input codes on the lower screen.
While he waited, Ian studied the child. He still had trouble believing that they were so old... He gasped when her eyes opened; she searched for a pair of seconds before she found him.
“She knows you,” Morgan said without taking his attention from the screen. Popping noises came from the top of the unit as several tubes disengaged themselves.
“How?” Ian watched her watching him. Did she just smile?
“Mercy apparently shared memories with the children to keep them calm and to entertain them.”
That sounded like his daughter. She used to do the same type of thing back home with the many children that made up their family. She would often tell or read stories to them at night or during their school time. He smiled hesitantly at the girl, one of many that his daughter had tried to save at the cost of her own life.
Encouraged, she sent her power to him. He was surprised when she spoke to him in Kin. Mother’s Father.
Hello.
I saw you at the beach. You were laughing.
Really?
I want to go there with you and Mother.
That would be nice.
Morgan signaled to him and together they carefully rocked the tank until the wheels rolled out of the shallow depressions they sat in; then they began steering the unit to the door. It was surprisingly easy to move, considering its size. By the time they arrived at the door, Smoke was there with the promised help.
“Take her to the same room as Nivia. You only need to plug in these three cords for now. The rest of the installation can wait until later. We’ll start on the next one. Thank you.”
Smoke nodded and took charge of the girl.
Ian waved at her. I’ll see you soon.
Where is Mother?
She’s resting.
I want to see her.
Halfblood Legacy Page 60