by Doug Welch
Paris interrupted. “Why weren’t we all born in Italy, Why the United States?”
“That has to do with what comes later,” Cramer replied. “I’ll get to that in a moment.”
“Continue, Doctor Cramer,” Elizabeth said. “What happened to Brian’s mother?”
“Once she experienced freedom she never looked back, choosing to stay with the man she’d mated,” Cramer said. “But the Borgias are a vindictive bunch. She paid for it with her life and the life of one of her sons. If it had ended there we wouldn’t be having this conversation, but the fact was that the whole experiment blew up. Before the end of the decade the bogus doctor disappeared taking the miracle drug with him.
“The Borgias were frantic. Sybil had delivered several live births but she was entering menopause and wouldn’t be able to have more children. They decided to leave the young children with their parent –or parents in the case of Paris and Alex. After all, they could harvest them later if they wanted to. They invested heavily in the emerging biotechnology industries, hoping one of them might achieve a breakthrough, but despite spending vast sums of money they couldn’t re-create the drug. And that’s where I came into the picture.”
He stopped talking and cleared his throat. “Is there any water? I’m parched.”
Paris glanced at his watch. “I think we could all use a break. It’s almost time for lunch.”
“Wait,” Brian announced. Addressing Doctor Cramer he said, “If the Borgias killed my mother and my brother, then why did I survive?”
“Pure luck,” Cramer replied. “They never felt they had use for the male children of the experiment, preferring the females as breeding stock. They would have eliminated all the males, but that all changed when Paris’ father learned how to use Shadow abilities. Now they had concrete evidence that normal humans had Shadow qualities and if they couldn’t find a way to prevent it they’d lose their dominance. They forgot about killing you. Their focus changed to abducting or recruiting you.”
In the dining room everyone gathered at the large table while the servants served lunch.
Caesar was the first to speak. “Doctor Cramer. You told us about the drug but you never said what the Adept’s name was.”
Cramer laughed. “You won’t believe it. I know I don’t. The man’s name, at least the one he used, was Nicodemus. He insisted that the experiment be carried out in America, because he planned to rejoin his quote, heavenly father. It’s obvious the man was a genius but he was a psychotic genius.”
“Are you talking about the Nicodemus from the Bible?” Paris asked.
“The very same,” Cramer replied. “The irony is that he really did disappear in America but I doubt it was into heaven.” Cramer chuckled. “I think he was destined for the hotter regions.”
Kitty frowned and looked at her soup while stirring it. “How do you know so much about the Shadow culture, Doctor Cramer?” she asked.
“I made it my business to learn,” he replied. “I was a virtual prisoner of the Borgias although a pampered one. I felt if I could understand them I could escape from the mess I was in. Fortunately Paris offered me a way out.”
“I have a question, Doctor,” Elizabeth said. “You mentioned the drug caused a type of cloning but you never addressed the startling differences between the twins. As I understand from your description of the events one biological mother was used to create all the people you see here. But there are some major discrepancies. From Brian’s description of his mother she had amber eyes but his father’s eyes were brown. Brian has brown eyes but the other’s twins’ eyes are amber. How did you account for that?”
Cramer spread his hands. “Short answer?” His eyebrows rose in question as waited for Elizabeth’s nod. “I can’t. Nature can only be tweaked so far before it fights back. It may have been the difference between Rebecca and the surrogate. Brian was birthed by his biological mother but you four,” he indicated the other twins, “were gestated by The Succubus. I think that fact is significant, but we didn’t concentrate on it. We had more pressing issues.”
Paris laid a napkin on his lap and picked up a fork. “What issues, Doctor?”
Cramer finished a bite of salad before he replied. “Like creating human clones without the drug. That’s why the Borgias were so eager to get their hands on you and your siblings. You’re a walking treasure chest of biological material.”
Audrey, who’d been quiet up to then, almost shouted, “Why did you force Brian to rape me? Was that part of the plan?”
Cramer looked at her with compassion. “No, Audrey. I begged them to not do it.” His teeth clenched and he spoke through them, “But some idiot convinced them that the stem cells from such a mating would have marvelous properties. To the scum that rule the Borgias, you’re all just toys to play with as they want. We had enough cells from both you and Brian to do what they needed. It wasn’t necessary. I think they got a sexual thrill from watching it. I’m sorry. If there had been any way I could have prevented it, I would have.”
They finished the rest of the lunch in silence.
Back in the common room everyone gathered around to hear the rest of the story.
Cramer began without preamble. “We did it. It’s amazing what science can accomplish with unlimited funds and massive, well-equipped facilities. We learned how to clone humans and not only clone them but change their genetic code. We brought numerous clones to viability only to destroy them and begin again.”
“What do you mean by viability?” Paris asked.
Cramer hung his head and spoke to the floor. “I mean that the embryo was developed enough to have survived and produce a true human.” He raised his head and scanned all of them. “If I could publish the results, it would revolutionize human biology forever. Sadly if I did, I’d never work for any reputable company ever again. The things we did would horrify most people.”
Elizabeth swallowed her disgust and questioned him again. “You mentioned modifying genetic code, to what extent can you change it?”
“Without limit,” Cramer replied. He pointed to Bernardo. “He provided the key. He developed a program that could search the human genome and compare gene sequences.
“It was faster than any software then in existence and it allowed us to find match-ups in astonishingly short periods of time.”
Elizabeth had an uncomfortable feeling, but her curiosity prompted her to ask the question. “Whose genome did you use as a model?”
Cramer’s eyes glanced everywhere but refused to focus in the twin’s direction. He gestured to their vicinity. “We used theirs.” He sighed and looked at the ceiling. “Twins —clones —whatever you want to call them, personally, I prefer humans. We had a bloodline in the twins that had not only proven successful but was descended from the Borgia House.” He hung his head and stared at the floor. “So we cloned them.”
Elizabeth’s apprehension grew. “What characteristics were you trying to change?” she asked. “Why tinker with the clone’s genetic code?”
“The Borgias wanted to create a super Shadow,” Cramer replied, “one with their Shadow heritage but also one with a number of desirable Adept talents. There are a wide variety of Adept abilities around the world and they wanted us to incorporate them into the clone’s genes.”
Elizabeth dreaded his next answer but felt compelled to ask, “Did you succeed?”
Cramer raised his head and focused on Elizabeth. “Yes,” he replied. “We accomplished what most scientists would term impossible.”
His attention turned to Alex. “But there was one gene sequence we incorporated that didn’t appear anywhere else, one the Shadows fear.
“That gene sequence is a part of you, Alexandra, and no one has the slightest clue as to what it does or why it’s there.”
The end.
Other Books in the Shadow Series
Shadow Games (free)
Shadow Spies
Other Books by Doug Welch
Sail Beyond Tomorrow
Dear Collaborator (free romantic short story)
All books are available on the site from which you purchased this book.
Connect to Doug Welch at the following sites:
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