* * * * *
“So you say this device—this self-termination unit—is set to go off in less than two standard hours time and stop your bride’s heart and lungs from working?” Sylvan asked, frowning up at Calden.
Calden nodded. He was still getting used to these smaller Kindred who were apparently descendants of his ancestors before they had left to join with the Jor’gen people. But though they were about two feet shorter than he was, they seemed intelligent and helpful. Their leader, Sylvan, in particular had grasped the situation and the need for speed quickly.
“But if the self-termination unit isn’t deactivated first, it will act like a miniature bomb and blow off her head instead,” he said, speaking in a low voice, though he was certain Madeline couldn’t hear him. She was sitting in an exam room in the med center, still clutching Snuffy to her chest and talking intently to one of the human nurses. It was a female Sylvan had called in especially to comfort her—a woman with the same pale skin coloring as Madeline but with long blonde hair and silvery-gray eyes. Calden watched through the clear glass window that separated them and hoped that the special nurse was being helpful. Madeline still wasn’t speaking to him and he was worried about her.
“Well, that does make things more difficult, since we don’t know what technology we’re working with. I take it you are unable to deactivate it yourself?” Sylvan asked.
“Unfortunately not. The only being capable of deactivating the self-termination unit was an AI called FATHER. It was the overseer of the Mentat science station where I lived and worked…and where I cloned Madeline.”
Sylvan shook his head. “I would like to hear your entire story, Brother, but we have no time right now. I would like to call in an expert—we have a Tolleg surgeon aboard our Mother Ship who is excellent with integrating flesh and machinery. Since he specializes in enhancements, I’m hoping he can help.”
Calden nodded gravely. “I have heard of the Tollegs, though I have never seen one. Yes, please—call him in.”
In just a few minutes, a small, hairy creature with long floppy ears and large, liquid, intelligent eyes bounced into the room.
“Commander Sylvan, Yipper is at your service—yes he is, yes he is!” he exclaimed in a high, excited voice.
“Yipper, have you ever heard of a self-termination unit?” Sylvan asked.
“A self-termination unit? Why yes I have, yes I have.” The little creature nodded his head until his ears flopped. “They were sometimes used by The Collective in prisoners they wished to make use of only for a short period of time. Why do you ask, Commander Sylvan?”
“This is Calden of the Jor’gen Kindred.” Sylvan nodded by way of introduction at him. “He has brought us an Earth female with just such a unit implanted in her neck. It is set to go off in less than two hours—”
“Less than an hour, now.” Calden couldn’t keep the anxiety out of his voice.
Sylvan nodded. “As you say, in less than a standard hour it will go off and stop the nervous impulses from the female’s brain to her heart and lungs, effectively killing her unless it can be removed.”
“Well, I can take it out—yes I can, yes I can!” Yipper exclaimed. “Why are we waiting? Come to my surgery area at once please!”
“There’s a problem though, Yipper.” Sylvan held up a hand to stop the excited Tolleg. “Unfortunately, this unit has not been deactivated and if it is removed without deactivation, it acts as a bomb. So we have a very delicate and dangerous situation here. Can you still remove it?”
The little Tolleg looked troubled.
“Oh dear, oh dear. Let me think, let me think,” he exclaimed. He paced back and forth several times, his ears flopping in agitation but gradually the worried expression on his face cleared. “Yes,” he muttered to himself. “It might work, yes it might, yes it might!”
“What might work?” demanded Calden. He was trying not to look at the chronometer strapped to his wrist but he couldn’t help seeing that the time was ticking away and with it, Madeline’s last few remaining minutes of life.
“The self-termination units that were used by The Continuum were quasi-sentient, yes they were, yes they were,” Yipper explained. “If they were not deactivated, they knew enough to blow up if they were detached from the living flesh that nourished them—their host, if you understand me.”
“Yes—go on,” Sylvan urged.
“So what if we did not remove the unit from living flesh?” Yipper asked, looking up at them, his big eyes shining.
“What—you mean cut out a piece of Madeline’s flesh to keep the unit from knowing it’s being removed? But it’s implanted in her spinal cord,” Calden protested. “That could paralyze or kill her!”
“No, we would not cut out her flesh, no we wouldn’t, no we wouldn’t,” Yipper exclaimed. “We would transfer the unit to a new piece of living flesh. I have many tissue samples in my lab which I use in making my enhancement devices. We could try to extract the unit while keeping a living tissue sample in contact with it. The unit would hopefully not even realize it was being moved from one piece of living flesh to another, no it wouldn’t, no it wouldn’t.”
Sylvan looked thoughtful. “So as long as it continues to receive nourishment from the flesh, it should remain quiescent.”
“Yes it should, yes it should!” Yipper nodded excitedly.
“Can you do that? Are you sure it would work?” Calden asked anxiously. Inwardly he cursed FATHER again for refusing to deactivate the damn self-termination unit. He’d already taken revenge on the AI but if Madeline died, it would all be for nothing. His whole life would be nothing.
If she dies, I want to die too, he thought bleakly. I don’t want to go on without her.
“I am almost certain it will work—and I can do it quickly, yes I can, yes I can.” The little Tolleg surgeon sighed. “I just wish I was able to practice first, yes I do, yes I do. It’s going to be a difficult and dangerous operation, though it should be over quickly once I start.”
Calden’s eyes strayed through the window of the room where Madeline was sitting and clutching the littlest brantha.
“Actually, I believe there is a way for you to practice,” he said. “And if you succeed, you’ll make Madeline very happy—as well as saving her life.”
“Always glad to help, yes I am, yes I am!” Yipper exclaimed. “Tell me what you mean, please.”
Calden leaned down to get closer to the little creature’s furry, floppy ears and began to explain.
Chapter Eighteen
Maddy hadn’t expected to open her eyes ever again so when her eyelids fluttered open and she saw two strange girls sitting on chairs at the end of her bed, she thought she must be dreaming or dead.
“Who are you?” she murmured, looking at them. “Are you here to welcome me to Heaven?”
“Heaven?” One of them—a girl with red hair and blue eyes burst into laughter and shook her head. “No, doll—this isn’t Heaven. If it was, my triplets wouldn’t have spilled oatmeal on the couch today and then decided to rub it in with their faces!”
“And my twins wouldn’t have gotten in trouble in school today,” the other—a girl with long brown hair and green eyes—remarked.
“Oh, did they really?” the red-haired girl asked.
The other nodded. “Yup. Apparently one of the little boys called Kara a name and you know how protective Kaleb is of his twin. He pushed the other boy down and they had a knock-down-drag-out right on the playground.” She sighed and shook her head as if to say, “kids…”
“That’s kind of why I prefer dogs,” Maddy volunteered, waking up a little more, though she still wasn’t sure what was going on. This whole scene seemed surreal—maybe she was still dreaming.
“Oh, is that what that little animal at the foot of your bed is? Some kind of alien dog?” the girl with the twins asked.
“It sure doesn’t look like any dog I ever saw,” the redhead remarked.
Maddy looked to see what they were talkin
g about and gave a little cry when she saw Snuffy lying motionless down by her feet.
“Oh no!” she exclaimed. “Did…did he die while that little hairy guy was doing surgery on me?” She had vague memories of being rushed to surgery and Snuffy being pried from her arms as a little creature that looked like a cross between a baboon and a hound dog promised to take good care of both him and Maddy in a high, excited voice. But after that…nothing.
“I don’t think he’s dead.” The red-haired girl poked Snuffy, who bounded up with an indignant burble. He looked around and saw Maddy. Giving a joyful trumpet, he galloped up the length of the bed on his stubby legs and threw himself into her arms.
“Oh, Snuffy!” Suddenly Maddy’s eyes were swimming with tears. “You’re alive!”
“And he’s going to stay that way. Yipper was able to remove the unit in the back of his neck just like he removed yours. So your little pet should have a normal lifespan now.” The new voice belonged to Liv, the nice nurse who had talked to her the night before and held her hand until the anesthetic took effect before her surgery. She was bustling into the room, carrying something Maddy recognized from her time aboard the Mentat station.
“Oh, it’s Calden’s plant!” she exclaimed as Liv arranged it on the nightstand beside her hospital bed. “And look—the fruit is finally ripe!” Indeed, the fruits—which had been green back at the Mentat station—finally looked ready to eat. They were like no fruit Maddy had ever seen before though—they were actually square instead of round—little peachy-pinkish cubes that were just the right size to fit in the palm of her hand.
“What kind is it?” The redhead came to examine the plant more closely. She bent down to sniff one of the golden-pinkish cubes and frowned. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that was bonding fruit!”
“But bonding fruit is triangular, isn’t it?” the girl with brown hair asked. “I thought it looked a little bit like a giant strawberry—but with the coloration of a peach.”
“Maybe it’s a new kind of bonding fruit like Calden is a new kind of Kindred,” the redhead said.
“Excuse me—you know Calden?” Maddy asked, frowning. “How? And who are you?”
“Haven’t you two introduced yourselves yet?” Liv scolded.
“Well, we meant to but then we all just sort of started talking,” the redhead said defensively. “Sorry, doll,” she said to Maddy. “I’m Kat and this is Sophie—Liv’s twin sister.”
“We’re very pleased to meet you and we don’t really know your guy—we just heard your story and thought we’d come welcome you to the Mother Ship,” Sophie said. “You probably met my husband, Commander Sylvan, last night.”
“Oh yes—yes, I did.” Maddy nodded, remembering the tall Kindred with spiky blond hair and pale blue eyes. Though of course he wasn’t tall compared to Calden—nobody was tall compared to him. But Sophie’s husband had been very nice and reassuring when explaining what the surgery entailed. Maddy was glad she’d gotten to meet him, even though she didn’t remember a whole lot of the details.
“So Sylvan told us a little about what happened to you,” Sophie said. “And Liv filled us in on the rest—I hope you don’t mind. We thought we’d come down and see you because it sounded like you could use some friends.”
“I certainly could,” Maddy agreed. “Although…” She bit her lip, not quite sure how to go on.
“What is it, doll?” Kat asked gently.
“It’s just…I don’t know if you’ll want to be friends with me when you find out that, well…I’m not real,” Maddy whispered. Her throat felt tight as she said the words but she was determined she wasn’t going to hide what she knew about herself from her new friends—if they still wanted to be her friends after they found out about her, that was.
Liv put a hand on her hip.
“How are you not real?” she demanded. “You look solid enough to me.”
“I know I look real but truth is…” Maddy took a deep breath. “I’m a…a clone,” she whispered in a voice so low she could barely hear it herself.
“You’re a what?” Kat demanded.
“I think she said she’s a clone,” Liv said uncertainly. “But that can’t be right—can it?”
“Actually, it can,” Sophie said softly. “My hubby told me all about it—sorry, hon,” she said, nodding apologetically at Maddy. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“So you’re a clone?” Kat repeated, clearly incredulous. “I just don’t think—”
“Sorry I’m late! Ziza was throwing a fit about what to wear to tiny tots. I finally just gave up and let her wear her tutu.” A new girl with creamy brown skin and arresting amber eyes came in. She had a big bakery box in one hand and she was smiling. “What did I miss?”
“Oh Lauren, thank goodness!” Liv exclaimed. “You’re exactly who we want to see.”
“Why, because I brought cupcakes?” Lauren plopped the box down on the side of Maddy’s bed. “I’m Lauren and these are your get-well and welcome-to-the-Mother Ship treats.” She lifted the lid of the box, exposing a dozen of the most decadent, luscious-looking cupcakes Maddy had ever seen.
“Not just because you brought cupcakes,” Kat said—"although those look amazing, Lauren. But we just found out that Maddy here is a clone—so we thought she’d like to talk to you.”
“Why—is she a clone too?” Maddy blurted, looking up from the distracting array of cupcakes to meet the new girl’s amber eyes.
“Oh, no!” Lauren laughed. “But I’ve been cloned—and I actually had a really good—though brief—relationship with my clone. We were kind of like sisters there at the end, before she left.” She sighed, looking a little sad, then seemed to shake herself into a better mood. “So I can kind of empathize with you. Do you get along with the girl you were cloned from or not?” she asked conversationally, dragging up a chair to sit closer to the side of Maddy’s bed. “I mean, are you friends?”
“Have a cupcake while you think how to answer—I know this is probably all sounding pretty confusing right about now,” Kat added.
Not knowing what else to do, Maddy picked a plump chocolate cupcake sprinkled with shredded coconut and slivered almonds out of the box and took a bite. Snuffy, who was still cuddled in her lap, sniffed the sweet treat with his trunk and burbled excitedly so she gave him a few crumbs.
As the cupcake melted in her mouth, the most delicious chocolate flavor exploded across Maddy’s tongue. She closed her eyes for a moment, savoring it.
“Oh, this is so good—I never thought I’d taste chocolate again,” she sighed. Opening her eyes, she realized that the girls gathered around her bed were waiting anxiously for answers.“I’m not friends with the, uh, body I was cloned from because she’s me—and she’s dead,” she said, wondering how much weirder things could possibly get. “I—she—was on board the Kennedy when it went through a wormhole and came out in the middle of an asteroid field and got smashed in half.”
“The Kennedy?” Kat asked, frowning.
"It was a spaceship the US government sent out to find a new planet for humanity," Maddy explained. "I was on it."
“Oh—I read about that!” Lauren exclaimed. “But it only recently became declassified. Apparently the government launched a ship filled with scientists and all kinds of embryos and seeds and things for starting over on a new world back when the Scourge first appeared and started threatening the Earth. You know—right before the Kindred showed up and saved everyone?”
“You mean these Kindred—the ones on this ship?” This was all news to Maddy.
“Uh-huh.” Liv nodded.
“The Kindred showed up only about a week after your ship was launched,” Lauren told her. “Believe me though—even after they came, it was touch and go for a while. And I was actually aboard the Father Ship myself, when the AllFather kidnapped me. It was awful!”
“But if you hadn’t been kidnapped, you never would have met Xairn,” Kat reminded her. “She’s married to a Scourge warrior,” sh
e told Maddy. “But he’s really nice.”
“And his skin has kind of that same pearly gray sheen as your Jor’gen Kindred—as Calden’s,” Sophie said thoughtfully. “I wonder if they’re in any way related?”
Maddy was still trying to digest the idea that the Earth hadn’t been completely overrun by the invading Scourge hordes as she had imagined back on board the Kennedy.
“So…the Earth is still alive? I mean, people still live there?” she asked faintly.
“Well, sure hon,” Liv said. “Of course they do.”
“I just…when we left on the Kennedy we were afraid the Earth was going to be overrun and invaded and maybe everyone would be killed. When I said goodbye to my family…” Maddy put a hand to her mouth. “Oh my God, my family! My mom and sisters! I wonder if they’re still alive?”
“I don’t see why they wouldn’t be,” Liv said practically.
“Would you like us to check for you?” Sophie asked, smiling sweetly.
“Yes!” Maddy exclaimed. Then her excitement died abruptly. “I mean no. No, of course not. I can’t see them again—I’m not the Madeline who left Earth all those years ago. I’m just…just a copy of her.”
“Oh, not this again!” Kat exclaimed. “What makes you say that? Just because you’re a clone?”
“Just because I’m a clone?” Maddy exclaimed. “Don’t you understand? I was killed—I died in the wreck of the Kennedy. Then, apparently my remains were found by the recovery robots from the station where Calden was working as a scientist. They brought me back and decided to clone me. But…” She swallowed hard. “But I didn’t know that until I found my body lying in a drawer in Calden’s lab.”
Awakened by the Giant: Brides of the Kindred Page 19