The Change (Unbounded)

by Teyla Branton

  Of course, Delia might decide to tell my father the truth. That she hadn’t done so led me to believe she had a use for me, perhaps to strengthen her position in the Triad. Or maybe she was simply toying with me. I had the feeling she enjoyed making people squirm.

  Chris gave me a sad smile. “It’s a good plan to a point, but even if we get out of here, I think I’m going to have to pick sides in this battle.”

  “This isn’t your fight.”

  “And it’s yours? No, little sister, we all do a lot of things we don’t want to do. This is something big, something important.” His voice became deadly. “They killed Lorrie, messed with my family, and that makes it my business. Even we lowly mortals have the right to fight for our family and friends.” Tears rolled down his cheeks again, but there was no convulsing this time, no out-of-control despair.

  He was right, and at this point the Renegades, though they’d lied to me, were the lesser of the two evils. “The Renegades may try to rescue us,” I said, reaching to scoop a bit of water to splash over my face. “They had a tracking device on me that might have led them at least to L.A. But if they do try to save us, it’ll only be one big trap for all of them, since Cort is really working for his father and the Triad.”

  Chris closed his eyes for a moment, considering. “You’d better tell Laurence when he gets back. Maybe he’ll have some ideas.”

  I jerked my hands from the water and looked at him. “Laurence is here?”

  “I’m sorry. Didn’t I say? He came with us on the plane. Fortunately. He sat with the kids and entertained them.”

  I was more than glad to learn Laurence was here instead of dead or in an Emporium laboratory somewhere. “Where is he now?”

  Chris snorted. “That is one man who loves his food. The first thing he demanded when they brought us breakfast this morning was groceries to make what he called ‘decent food.’ Believe it or not, they took him shopping. Not sure if they actually took him out of the building or to their supply closet or whatever. He should be back soon. He promised to make us lunch.”

  I’d been absorbing, most of the nutrients going to heal my wounded leg, but at this news I suddenly craved the comfort of normal food, preferably something loaded with fat. “Let’s hope he really does come back,” I said quietly. I didn’t like thinking of the alternative.

  “I’d better go check on the children.”

  “Wash your face first.”

  Chris grimaced at the mirror. “Yeah, I’m not ready to tell them yet.”

  We had no sooner resumed watching the children play than Laurence arrived, accompanied by an armed Unbounded guard and two teenage boys carrying plastic bags filled with groceries.

  “Hi, Erin,” Laurence said brightly, as though my presence was nothing out of the ordinary. “Heard you were here.”

  “Good to see you, Laurence.” I meant it. His round face, framed by his curly bright red hair was a welcome sight. He might be a little odd in the view of Ava and the others, but to me he was real.

  “These boys brought your children a nice game,” Laurence told Chris. “It’s one they’ve been trying out for a company.” To me he added, “Come into the kitchen while I cook us something to eat.” Laurence’s request seemed odd, since he was chewing on a large piece of pizza in his free hand, but I followed him to the kitchen anyway.

  “I’ll be there in a minute.” Chris eyed the Unbounded guard with suspicion, and I knew he had no intention of leaving his children alone with any members of the Emporium, regardless of how many new video games they brought.

  We left Chris to play protector, though I had no idea what he could do if they decided to take the children. Or what any of us could do. Still, I left the kitchen door open so I could hear what was going on. I’d die before I’d let anything happen to my niece and nephew.

  The teenage boys set the bags on the round table in the kitchen and vanished, the taller pulling a disk from the pocket of his jeans. Laurence began moving about, putting things away in the cupboards and the fridge, piling a few items on the counter that he was apparently planning to use. “How does lasagna sound for lunch?”

  “Fine.” I eyed the bags of food with dismay. “Do you really think we’re going to be here long enough to use all this?”

  Laurence laughed. “It’s only enough for a few days. I eat when I worry.” He paused and added, “Well, I eat when I’m not worried. Or when I’m happy or tired or anxious or any other time.” He heaved a sigh. “You know, one of the saddest things about becoming Unbounded is that I never really feel hungry anymore.”

  “That’s a bad thing?”

  “What I mean is I can’t crave a huge meal and eat and be satisfied. I used to love Thanksgiving dinner. I’d grow hungrier all day as I smelled the food cooking, and then I’d eat until my stomach was about to burst and they’d have to roll me to the couch to watch TV. Then they’d bring the pie.” He looked at the ceiling with an expression of utter joy.

  I felt it all as he spoke, the fond memory of food and feeling full. How easy it was to identify these emotions as his, not mine; I’d spent my lifetime trying not to think about food.

  “Now my body doesn’t hunger for food,” he continued, “and I’m never really satisfied when I eat. So I eat more, but my body hurries and gets rid of the bloated feeling, so I have to eat even more.”

  “Ah, Laurence, that’s the part I love about being Unbounded.” I sat down at the table, the first moment of rest since I’d arrived. “Not having to worry about making food, my body repairing itself. It’s a miracle.”

  He flopped down heavily in the chair opposite me, and for a moment I wondered if the chair would hold his weight. “I watched my first wife die in childbirth,” he said. “We had six children before Dimitri showed up to let me know I was Unbounded and that anything we did to avoid conception pretty much wasn’t going to work. She was only twenty-five when I married her and we had six kids in six years.” His eyes left mine and focused on a point beyond me. “Then she got pregnant again.”

  I didn’t even have to touch him to know what happened. The terrible images were bright in his thoughts. “I’m really sorry, Laurence.” I pushed his emotions away, shutting my mind to his sadness, hoping the block would stay in place. For an instant as I readjusted to sensing nothing, I felt oddly as though my sight or my sense of smell had been taken away.

  “The child lived, at least.” He smiled sadly as his eyes found mine again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you sad. I meant to show you that being Unbounded is sometimes a curse.”

  “You didn’t make me sad. I mean, I am, but not for me. It must have been very difficult.”

  “She was a good, good woman.” He came to his feet, a yellow onion in his hand. “I missed her terribly. I didn’t think I’d ever marry again. I’ve had women friends over the years, of course, but those weren’t real relationships. I did fall in love with Teresa, though. We have one child. A little girl. She’s beautiful.”

  “What about your other children?”

  “Two died in their teens—a son during military service and a daughter from smallpox. Another son and daughter died from old age. Only one of my children was Unbounded, but she was killed by the Hunters three years ago. Left behind two little girls who are being raised by their mortal father. My youngest two daughters are in their eighties. I don’t see them often.”

  “They know about you, then?”

  “Always did, right from the first. But not their children. We pretended I was dead.” Coming to his feet, he took a knife from the drawer and began chopping an onion. “It was for the best. One of their boys did turn out to be Unbounded, but he was killed last year in New York during a battle.”

  I was glad my mind was blocked because though he spoke casually, his hand holding the knife shook.

  “Did you know about my biological father?”

  He threw the chopped onion in a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. “I knew. For the record, I was against it.”
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  “They were worried the blood had thinned too much. I was seventh generation.”

  “Ah, yes. The bloodlines. We must protect them as long as the Emporium exists.” The irony in his words was clear, but I didn’t understand the subtle meaning. Was he implying that by using Emporium engineered sperm we were as bad as the Emporium? Or something else altogether?

  He continued adding garlic, herbs, and tomatoes to the fresh sauce he was making for the lasagna. He took out another pan to fry Italian sausage.

  “I don’t know if I’m mad at Ava or grateful,” I said. “I love the idea of being something, of making a difference. Doing something important. But I don’t want to watch my family die, I don’t want to worry about losing every mortal I love, and the idea of having a child who might become an outcast among his own people is horribly sad.”

  For a long moment Laurence didn’t reply. At last he turned to me. “I told you at Stella’s that I planned to do research, but what I didn’t tell you is that once I get the facilities and assistants I need, my research will be dedicated solely to either making everyone in the world Unbounded or doing away with the gene altogether. No one else will have to endure what so many of us have endured.”

  I was stunned. “That’s wonderful, Laurence!”

  He smiled. “I knew you would understand, but there are many Unbounded who won’t be willing to give up what they see as near godhood. They’ve become hardened because of so much loss.”

  “But if you could make everyone Unbounded—”

  “Not my preference of solutions.”

  “Why not? It’s perfect.”

  “Not once you’ve had decades to think about it. If the world were full of Unbounded, every social security system in the world would be bankrupt in a very short time. Without birth control options, we would soon overrun the earth and its resources, and then where would we go? And that’s just the beginning of the problems.”

  “Then make it so only those being born now have the gene, and by the time the world is crowded, we will have found a way to colonize space or something.”

  He laughed. “Or something. But that’s what the plan would entail—something involving new Unbounded. We couldn’t change the old humans. Unfortunately, we’re not close to space travel or being able to colonize other worlds, and I can’t be sure such a thing is even possible. No,” he shook his head, “I really think the reverse is the better solution.”

  “You mean to make sure none of our descendants are Unbounded.”

  “Exactly.”

  It was a solution, but I felt opposed to the idea of making sure my posterity died on time. “How close are you?”

  He made a face. “I’m not sure. Most of my research has been on paper instead of in the lab, but with the right resources, I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with a cure eventually.”

  “Being Unbounded isn’t a disease,” I protested.

  “Isn’t it?” His broad face took on a flush of color. “The Emporium has a finger in every major corporation and political organization in the world. It’s only a matter of time before they take their power one step further. The human world is much closer to genuine slavery than any of us realizes.”

  Surely he couldn’t believe such a thing. I dissolved my barrier and sent out my thoughts. But he was dark, now, of his own will. Interesting. But if he didn’t know about my talent, then who was he trying to block? Maybe he was worried about Delia.

  “Ava thinks we come from another race who visited earth,” I said.

  “Most Unbounded scientists and doctors believe we are the result of a simple gene mutation.”

  I gave him a wry smile. “Frankly, given the choice between being an alien or a mutant, neither sounds very appealing.”

  Laurence laughed. “That’s why I like you so much, Erin. You and I are a lot alike.” He turned to stir the sauce.

  “Is there anything I can do? To help with lunch, I mean.”

  “Find a big pan and boil some water for the noodles.”

  The noodles were nearly cooked by the time Chris showed up in the kitchen. “Sorry. Those teenagers wanted to watch the kids play that new game they brought, and I had to wait for them to leave. I wasn’t going to leave them alone with Kathy and Spencer, no matter how much fun they seem to be having.”

  “It’s good they’re having fun,” I said absently. To myself I was wondering how long Laurence would remain intact if the Emporium and the Renegades knew his ultimate goal. Or maybe they would laugh at the impossibility.

  “Laurence, do you think they’re listening to us in here?” I looked at him significantly.

  He shook his large head. “I spent hours checking for bugs this morning. The place doesn’t even have a camera except out in the halls. Still, we can be careful if you like.” He reached over and turned on the empty blender.

  “So how are we going to get out of here?” Chris slumped down at the table. “I’ve got to get my children somewhere safe. They’re really taking to those other kids. All these games. They’re incredible, nothing like I’ve seen on the market.”

  “If you think these are good, you should see what the Renegades have been working on,” Laurence said.

  Chris didn’t seem to hear him, but it was hard to hear anything over the shrill noise of the blender. “Those boys were telling the kids about a special game room here and all the activities they have for the youth. I had the strangest feeling that if I were to disappear, Kathy and Spencer would be absorbed into this life and they wouldn’t even miss me.”

  “They’d eventually serve the Emporium,” I said, thinking of Keene and also of Tom, who likely had no idea what he’d gotten himself into, though that would change quickly.

  Chris sighed. “The longer we’re here, the more danger we’re all in.”

  Laurence poured the noodles into a metal strainer in the sink and began laying them in the lasagna pan. “We’ll just wait it out. Ava will send someone after us—Ritter and probably one or two of the others. Not Stella. They can replace Ritter for the meeting, but Stella will have to be in New York tonight to keep the appointment with Halden.”

  The appointment I was supposed to attend. “Will they even know you’re here?” I asked Laurence. “Do you have a transmitter they can check?”

  “Huh?” he asked, frowning at the blender.

  I raised my voice to be heard. “Do you have a transmitter?”

  “I had one, but they disabled it when I got here. What about you?”

  “I took mine out before I arrived. I hope Ava will be able to track it at least to L.A.”

  “Then they’ll find us,” Laurence said confidently.

  “That might not be a good thing,” Going to stand closer to Laurence so he could hear me better, I told him about Cort and Justine and Tom. Chris sat silently at the table, mentally only half there. I knew he was thinking of Lorrie.

  “I can’t believe it.” Laurence seated himself heavily on a chair by the table, leaving the pan of unfinished lasagna on the counter. “All this time Cort’s been part of the Emporium? I thought it was suspicious, him showing up after an old college roommate of mine wrote an article about running into me and how I hadn’t appeared to age.”

  “How long ago was that exactly?” I asked, picking up his abandoned sauce spoon.

  Laurence thought a moment. “Thirty-five. But he’s been very helpful to our cause all these years. He’s the last person I’d ever peg for a traitor—except maybe Ritter. Everyone knows that any day he kills an Emporium agent is a good day for him.”

  “Do you think Cort knows about this place?” Chris recovered enough to ask.

  I chewed my bottom lip. “He’d have to, I’d think. He’s the son of one of the Triad. From what I heard him tell his brother, he’s planning on running the Emporium someday.”

  “Then he’ll set a trap for the others,” Laurence said.

  I spooned the sauce over the last layer of noodles before going back to the table. “So maybe the questi
on isn’t how we escape, but how do we stop the others from falling into the trap?”

  “Ava and the others aren’t new at this,” Laurence said. “They’ll be careful.”

  “But they have no idea Cort’s a traitor.” I licked a bit of sauce from my finger. A bit spicy but good.

  Laurence heaved a sigh. “That could be a big problem.”

  “If they had a helicopter or something,” Chris said, “I could fly it out of here.”

  “I’m sure they have one. The problem will be getting to it.” Laurence came to his feet and slid the lasagna into the heated oven.

  Back where we began—locked in a room with no chance of escape.

  “Well, there’s nothing we can do now.” Laurence reached for a bag of flour and a jar of yeast. He turned off the blender, much to everyone’s relief. “Do you know how to knead bread by hand? I know an awesome bread stick recipe. If we hurry, they’ll be ready to pop in the oven just after the lasagna’s finished.”

  We spent the next hour and a half helping Laurence with dinner and watching the children. When we finally sat down to eat, I wasn’t hungry, but the smell of the bread sticks made my mouth water all the same. I ate one of the sticks and a piece of lasagna in record time.

  Moments later, I sensed Keene’s presence before he appeared in the kitchen doorway. I put down my second bread stick and met his gaze slowly. “Hello, Keene.”

  Laurence and Chris looked up from their plates, and the children stopped drinking root beer to stare at him.

  Keene ignored everyone but me. “Delia Vesey wants to see you.”

  “That didn’t take long.” I glanced at Chris and Laurence for their reactions.

  “I’ll go with you,” Laurence said.

  I shook my head. “I’d feel better if you’d stay here with Chris and the kids.” Chris was strong, but Laurence had been trained to fight Unbounded. Even overweight as he was and with only his bare hands, he’d be better protection for them than I would be. Or better at talking his way out of trouble. Of course, if an attacker had a gun, Laurence would be immobilized almost instantly.