Experiment

by Simcoe, Marina

  “It was Valran who approved the painkillers for Tairan?” I asked.

  Ires nodded. “And now he no longer has the authority to do so again. Not anymore. So, when you’re no longer pregnant—”

  “Ires . . .” Zavis touched her friend’s arm as if to silence her.

  The round stage in the middle of the room lit up at that moment. Figures rose from it. The clarity and quality of the hologram was good enough to make me believe I was watching a play, with live actors on the stage.

  Except that I had a hard time focusing on the storyline of the movie, playing in 3-D in front of me. My brain was still going through the information Ires provided.

  I believed I had glimpsed some understanding in Valran before, during our one and only conversation in that crypt of a room. Learning that he had assisted us in some way filled my heart with gratitude. Knowing that he had been penalized for his act of kindness was disheartening and disturbing. Ricread obviously was discouraging his team from displaying sympathy towards us.

  Zavis was right to worry about her friend telling me too much—anxiety already crawled through me, like a colony of ants.

  Our lives had been relatively calm lately, thanks to the agreement I forced on Ricread, but the time kept ticking by. I splayed my hand on my rounded belly. Sooner or later this would end. No one could tell me when or how, but whenever I dared to think of the future, it was always with dread and fear.

  Chapter 19

  BY THE END OF SEPTEMBER, the sun had inched up, ready to peek over the horizon, and already lighting the edge of the sky. The long night was about to be over in Antarctica.

  Tairan would still come with me for my brief walks outside, but he made sure his cloak was securely sealed at all times, his goggles firmly in place, and his hood drawn low over his face. I sensed that seeing the greying sky with the golden edge over the horizon of the weeks-long sunrise had made him increasingly anxious about going outside.

  Twilight was about to set over the Arctic, though, and the entire staff of the facility were getting ready to move from the Earth’s South Pole to the North.

  “Believe it or not, I think I’ll miss this place,” I said to Tairan as we walked down the corridors to the landing hangar. “The life here at the station can be enjoyable once you’re allowed to explore it. I’ll miss the gardens and the swimming pool.”

  “There are exactly the same gardens and swimming pool in the northern station as they are here.” Tairan found my hand through the layers of our cloaks.

  “Completely identical?”

  He nodded, sending the hexagons flashing across his goggles.

  “Both stations were built using the same plans so that the semi-annual moves wouldn’t disrupt the life or work of personnel. The biggest difference is the way the two buildings were constructed. Since the North Pole is not located on a continent, the whole facility there is actually suspended in the air by a forcefield and anchored to Earth-bound coordinates. It basically floats about a metre over ice that is moving constantly.” He squeezed my hand. “Once inside, though, I promise you will hardly notice the difference.”

  Tairan was right. When our flying craft landed in the northern facility a few hours later and we exited into the landing hanger, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we’d come right back to where we started.

  The hangar, the corridors, the plants, even the cushions on the couch in my rooms seemed exactly the same. The only difference I noticed was the ‘unlived in’ air in the rooms.

  As soon as we settled, our life here closely resembled the one we led in Antarctica, the only difference being that the sky during my walks outside was slowly turning darker now, twilight turning to polar night.

  Then one morning, I felt the fetus kick inside my growing belly.

  I was in the shower and couldn’t believe what I felt at first. Shocked, I watched the soapy streaks of water run down my stretched skin then I actually saw the second kick.

  Until now, I had attempted to distance my heart from what was going on inside my own body by forcing myself into the mindset of a surrogate—trying to view my body as simply a temporary vessel, a living incubator.

  I placed my shaking hand on the spot where the little foot or the elbow had just shoved against my belly from the inside—all my logic and reasoning now torn to pieces at once.

  The walls I had been desperately building around my heart all these months shook and crumbled to the ground, knocked down by that one tiny kick.

  My knees gave in and I sank to the floor, the soapy water plummeting on me from the above.

  I could no longer pretend to be simply a surrogate, because the baby inside me was mine—mine and Tairan’s, the man I cared deeply about. But there was also an arrogant, ambitious scientist, cold and ruthless in his drive to succeed, who waited for this baby to be born so he could get his hands on it. And I had no idea how to stop him.

  Sitting on the floor in the shower, I shook with tears as feelings of terror and helplessness overcame me.

  That was how Tairan found me a while later. He rinsed the soap off me and wrapped me in a blanket from the bed instead of waiting for the hot air to dry me, then carried me to the couch in the living room.

  “What are the chances of a live birth now, Tairan?” I asked through tears the question I hadn’t dared to ask for months.

  “Well into double digits at this point, I’ve heard,” he said sombrely, stroking my wet hair. “And inching up with every day.”

  “Oh God.” I exhaled a shuddered breath, struggling to draw air into my lungs. “It will be a baby one day. And Ricread will take it away . . .”

  Zavis rushed in, her thin white eyebrows drawn into a tight frown of concern. “What is going on? Her readings are—”

  “Leave,” Tairan ordered gravely, his tone that of a commander, not the powerless subject of an experiment.

  “If the numbers turn critical, I’ll have no choice but to report it back to the team,” she warned, visibly taken aback by his tone.

  “I’ll handle this.”

  Still, she lingered.

  “Is Isabella okay?” she asked softly as I pressed my face into Tairan’s shoulder, struggling to get my tears under control. “I’m concerned about the baby, of course, and her development.”

  “Just go.” Tairan waved her off. “I’ve got her.”

  Quietly, Zavis exited the room, but her words still rang through my brain like a bell.

  Her development.

  I realized the research team must have been able to identify the gender of the fetus by now. They probably knew it all along, since they had been tracking the development on cellular level from before the implantation took place. They had probably tested the chromosomes right away.

  Now I recalled a number of references to ‘her’, thinking at the time they were talking about me, when in fact they must have been referring to the baby.

  “It’s a girl, isn’t it?” I exhaled into Tairan’s shoulder. He just stroked my back, without replying. “I’ve always wanted a baby girl. I even had a name picked—Elizabeth . . .” My voice broke as I spoke about another dream that had been stolen from me. “Not that we get to keep her . . .” Tears choked me anew. “Or even name her.”

  His arms around me tightened, but he remained quiet, and his silence felt scarier than words. I lifted my head up, needing to see his face. His expression terrified me—every feature appeared hard as rock, a dark storm brewing deep in the violet of his eyes.

  Afraid he might do something irreversible, I made a frantic effort to pull myself together, forcing the tears to subdue.

  “All is well, darling.” I wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing his cheek. “At this very moment, all is still well.”

  Chapter 20

  BY FORCING OUR AGREEMENT on Ricread back in Antarctica, I had managed to protect my daughter from being tested excessively while still in the womb. But with her defying the odds every day, I could not ignore the fact that I would have no agreement
s to protect her when she was born.

  As weeks and months continued to go by, each seemingly passing faster than the one before, worry about the baby grew stronger as she grew bigger.

  Tairan had been spending a fair amount of time in the exercise hall. Every muscle in his body felt hard as rock now, his shoulders getting wider and his arms and thighs even thicker than when I first met him. I wondered if making himself physically stronger helped him combat the worry and helplessness I was sure he shared with me.

  While he was working out his fear and frustration by climbing the walls in the exercise hall, I walked in the gardens, pretty much for the same reasons. Lately, I favoured the Earth portion—the familiarity of the plants and landscape there seemed to help me manage my anxiety.

  One morning, in my last trimester, I entered the open cave with the waterfall and spotted a cloaked figure near the wall. It was very rare to see a Kealan in this part of the gardens.

  When the figure stirred and moved my way, I wondered if the person came specifically to speak with me, knowing they would likely find me here at this time of the day. However, I couldn’t recognize who it was right away, aside from judging by the shape and height the person was male.

  “Bella,” the loud whisper came from under the hood, as he came closer and grabbed my arm.

  His eyes were hidden by goggles. But I recognised the shape of his chin and his tanned skin, with the familiar shadow of dark stubble that never seemed to go away, no matter how often he shaved.

  “Oh my goodness,” I whispered, pressing my hand to my chest to calm my racing heart. “Tony! What are you doing here? How?”

  “Like I would let the fucking aliens get away with taking my little sister,” he scoffed, cocky as ever.

  I dragged him into the alcove beside the waterfalls.

  “We can talk here, it’s a blind spot,” I explained, reaching to shove his hood back.

  He yanked his goggles off, staring at me with his dark-brown eyes, the same as my father’s—and mine.

  “Oh, God. Tony!” I threw my arms around him, hugging him tight. “How on earth did you even get in here?”

  “It wasn’t as hard as I’d feared.” He hugged me back. “Apparently, the aliens are super interested in your genetic material and since you and I are related—”

  “Oh no.” I shrank back, staring at him in horror. “Please don’t tell me they’ve taken you, too.”

  “No, not like that. They did some testing on me, while I was still locked up. Now that I got out, they brought me here for some more thorough . . . examinations. They’re taking me back home tonight, though. Apparently, I am not as valuable as you are.” He shrugged easily.

  “Consider yourself lucky,” I muttered, relief for him flooding every cell of my body.

  “I’m not going back with them.”

  “What?”

  “I’m getting you out of here.”

  “How, Tony?” I asked in disbelief.

  “You have their coat.” He adjusted the cloak on my shoulders. At this point, I only wore it inside when I had to pass close to the hangar where the air could be chilly. Right now, my cloak was open, the ends of it thrown behind my shoulders. Tony straightened it, closing it in the front. “It will keep you warm outside.”

  “Where are we going?” Even the shock of finding him here paled in the light of the sudden hope of freedom, so unexpectedly close to me now.

  “There’s an aircraft waiting for us, just outside of the warning barrier. I can sneak you out of here, following the tunnel of the water canal. See this?” He tossed the end of his cloak back, revealing what appeared to be a clumsier version of the Kealan arm device over his wrist. “We reverse-engineered this, I can scramble the signal of the warning barrier for a few seconds, just enough time to cross it.”

  “Who is ‘we’, Tony?” I asked, my head reeling from all of this.

  “The resistance group I’m with.”

  “There is such a thing?”

  “We’re small, but there are some pretty smart guys with us. We’ve intercepted one of the Kealan drones, and the guys were able to replicate their DNA tracking function. That’s how I’ve found you here. We’d better hurry.” He tugged me further under the waterfall where the channel tunnel began.

  “They will look for me, Tony,” I warned. “They’ll want her back.” I placed my hand on my swollen belly. “And they will get violent when they find me gone.” I did not doubt that Ricread would stop at nothing, even resorting to violence against humans again, to get the results of his precious experiment back.

  Tony’s gaze flickered to my belly, his expression darkening. “The assholes bred you.”

  “A baby girl.” I nodded. “She is due in just a few weeks. The first ever Kealan-human child.” I paused, Tony did the same, staring at me.

  “What’s her name?” He asked, finally.

  I swallowed hard, clearing my throat.

  “I call her Elizabeth. They’ve arranged for a human doctor, who specializes in high-risk pregnancies and deliveries, to be here for the labour,” I explained quietly. “Some complications are expected.” I felt her stir inside me and petted the side of my belly soothingly. Drawing a lungful of air, I rushed it out, as if jumping off a cliff, “I’m afraid I can’t go with you, Tony.”

  “Well, we could . . .” He rubbed the back of his neck, hesitating. “We could get a doctor, too.”

  “A human doctor wouldn’t have the Kealan expertise, though. I’m afraid both will be necessary here.” My heart sank, as hope left it. “That’s not the only thing,” I added. “The truth is, Tony, I wouldn’t be able to leave her father behind either. He is a subject of the experiment, too. Without me, his life here would be miserable. I’m afraid the head of the research team would take it out on him if he found me gone.”

  “Bella,” Tony gaped at me as if I had suddenly grown a tentacle. “Are you worried about some fucking alien?”

  “He is my husband, Tony.” I twisted the wedding band that I never took off. “I care about him.”

  I love him. The realization exploded in my chest, warming my heart.

  Even if it weren’t for the baby, I wouldn’t be able to leave Tairan behind. Grim and silent, cheerful and caring, he had been my rock through it all, my support and comfort. Through the months, he had increasingly become a bigger part of my life, until I could no longer imagine a life without him.

  “I love Tairan,” I said with certainty. “If I leave, he needs to come, too.”

  “He is a freaking Kealan, Bella.” Tony shook his head, a grimace of disgust on his face. “One of the dirty aliens who took over the Earth.”

  “Tairan wasn’t a part of that.” I rolled my shoulders back. “He wasn’t even here when the invasion happened. And Tairan has been very good to me, Tony. Better than anyone has ever been before—human or alien.”

  Stepping away from the entrance to the tunnel, my brother sat on the rock protrusion within the alcove.

  “So, you want me to get him out, too?”

  “I honestly don't know if it’d be possible for him to leave,” I admitted. “Kealan skin and eyes are extremely sensitive to sunlight. Back on their planet they live underground.”

  “What if we got him a cave?” he suggested, as if it was as simple as getting a real estate agent to find suitable accommodation for my husband.

  Still, hope stirred in me anew.

  “Maybe if it’s deep enough, and at least somewhat habitable, we could make it work?” I said tentatively.

  Tony nodded thoughtfully. The active brain of my restless brother must be hard at work already.

  “Ricread, the head of research here, would never rest searching for us, though,” I pointed out. “The Kealan race is dying, Tairan and I are the only match and Ricread’s best bet for continuation of their species.”

  “I see.” His chest rising with a deep inhale, Tony stared at my belly again. “Well, I’ll tell you what. You have a way to send messages now. Mary got
the one you sent earlier. How about you let me know through her if and when you’re ready to get out of here. I don't think I’ll find another way to sneak in here again. But I can arrange for the aircraft to land just outside of the barrier. It would take me a week after I get your message, so keep that in mind. You’ll have to hike out there yourselves, but we’ll pick you up and find a place to hide you two . . .” he glanced at my middle again, “or three, as may be.”

  “Tony,” I stopped him as he rose from the rock. “Thank you so much for thinking of me, for making it here . . .”

  “It wasn’t that much trouble.” He waved me off with a lopsided grin. “Just a few handfuls of sperm . . .” He pumped his fist in the air, laughing at my embarrassment as I placed my hand over my eyes with a groan, shaking my head. “The aliens can have it.”

  “God, you’re simply incorrigible.” I gave a slight shove at his chest then grabbed his arm, lest he leave already. It was so good to have someone from back home here. “Listen, tell me, how is everyone there? Mary, Mom, Dad, all the little ones?”

  My lip trembled, as the sudden desire to see them all again shot through me.

  “They’re good.” Tony shrugged. “Mary bought a house, right in town. She and the twins have moved out, although she brings them over nearly every day. She’s been looking for a job since they turned one, but now that she’s got some of your money, I don't think she is in that much of a hurry to start working again.”

  “Is Mom okay? How is Dad?”

  “Yeah, Mom is good. She cut down on the hours she works quite a bit, but is afraid to quit completely, always worried about money running out any minute. The usual, you know.”

  “I don’t think she’ll ever retire,” I agreed.

  “Dad has been home for a while now,” Tony continued. “He’s doing better on the new meds and even started helping out in the garage again, tinkering with cars about once or twice a week. Johnny is the main mechanic there now.”