by Merry Farmer
“Hey!” Kinn barked, writhing to break free of his bonds again. He was silenced with another crack of the whip to his face.
Danny clenched his fists behind him, a grimace of pain fueling his ferocity. Let the others do what they wanted to Kinn and more, but Irv would pay for his treatment of Grace. The slightest peek to his left at Stacey told him he wasn’t the only one planning reprisal.
“What’s all this?” Another fur-robed figure climbed up out of the ground. By the angle of his exit, the pit he’d crawled from was deep. His fur parka was sleeker than Irv’s and his face rounder, less hungry.
“We caught them in the forest, Paul,” Irv reported. Seconds ago he’d been a swaggering bully. Toe-to-toe with Paul he was a toothless lion. “They say they want to speak to Brian.”
Paul narrowed his eyes as he inspected them. After hours walking across the snow with their hands behind their backs and their heads and faces exposed, they were all red-faced and bleary-eyed with chapped lips and patches of snot frozen under their noses. Paul didn’t even blink as he marched up to Grace. He flicked her hood back and fingered a loose strand of her hair. Danny swayed toward the man, teeth bared, but Kinn’s guttural roar drew the man’s attention.
“You touch her, you die. She’s mine,” Kinn bellowed.
Paul sneered and gestured to Kinn’s guard. The guard jabbed the butt of his whip into Kinn’s gut. He doubled over with a strained groan.
When Paul turned back to Grace, lips curling in a lascivious sneer, Danny saw red.
“I know who you are,” Paul hummed. “Grace Hargrove.” He stepped back and studied the others with narrowed eyes. “So which one of these losers is Danny Thorne and which is Carrie Gartner?”
“I’m Dr. Thorne.” Danny slid forward in spite of the danger prickling his skin.
Paul swaggered over to him. He sniffed as he assessed Danny. “You don’t look like much.”
“I’m not,” he replied with cautious neutrality.
It wasn’t the answer Paul was looking for. “So this is what a geneticist looks like, huh? Huh?” he shouted in Danny’s face. “How are you getting along with making your mutant babies here on the moon, huh? Created the perfect race yet, have you?” He jerked his head toward Grace’s stomach. “That one of your sick little creations?”
“That’s my kid,” Kinn growled, surging against his bonds in spite of the fresh cuts bleeding down the side of his face. “If you touch her, I will fuck you up!”
Irv whipped the crossbow to point at him as two of the others grabbed him and forced him to his knees, wrenching his boots out of the straps that held them to his skis.
Paul laughed at the show and moved to stand over Kinn. “Who the hell are you?”
“Lieutenant Joseph McKinnon.”
If the situation hadn’t been so dire, Danny would have called Kinn out for inflating his rank.
“Ooh, a military man!” Paul laughed and kicked snow in his face.
The confrontation had caused enough of a stir that people dropped their tasks and inched away from their shelters to watch. Their faces were wan and sunken. Several of the women carried babies clutched to their chest, arms closed around them like protective clamps. Their eyes were wide, their mouths pinched tight. Danny’s pulse raced harder with emotions far more dangerous than anger.
When Paul turned to laugh with his buddies at the treatment Kinn was getting, the women cowered, some of them skittering off. A few of the men who weren’t guards laughed as if it meant the difference between life and death. Fear was thick in the air.
“Paul! Get back in here.” The familiar, overloud voice of Brian Kutrosky sounded from the frozen mound behind them.
Paul lost his swagger. He shifted and grimaced before hurrying back to the entrance.
“Is that the hunting party?” Kutrosky called again, his voice moving toward the entrance. “They’d better have a good haul if they’re back this soon.”
Brian emerged from the pit, blinking in the overcast afternoon light. He wore a coat made of some sort of glossy, gray pelts with a matching hat. Whereas the people around them had pale, gaunt faces, Brian was as puffy as ever. He had changed as much as the rest of them, though. The hungry aura emanating from him had nothing to do with food. His peevish expression flashed to shock when he saw Grace’s flame-red hair blowing behind her against the snowy landscape.
“I’ll be damned. Grace Hargrove.” His mouth split in a toothy grin that wasn’t quite a smile. A greedy light flashed in his wide, wild eyes.
Alarms clamored in Danny’s mind. It was obvious to even the densest drone from his manic expression that Kutrosky had lost his mind. Danny twisted his hands against his bonds, willing to endure the slicing pain if he had a chance of getting free, getting Grace away from this place and this man as fast as he could. Kinn lifted his head and was quickly shoved down.
“Brian Kutrosky.” Grace returned Kutrosky’s sinister greeting with a genuine smile. She extended a hand, taking the meeting at face-value, idealistic as ever. “It’s good to see you.”
“I wish I could say the same,” Brian’s grin shifted to a snarl.
Grace’s smile faltered. Danny worked against his bonds with frantic energy, not bothering to conceal what he was doing. There was no time to let Grace waltz into another trap.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve showing your face here,” Kutrosky said.
The others were catching on to the malice in Kutrosky’s eyes, the coldness in his voice. Stacey squirmed as though she too was trying to break out of her bonds. Heather and Jonah stood shoulder to shoulder and tried to pick each other’s bonds open while no one was looking. Danny gave up his attempts at escape. His bonds were too tight, his hands already too injured.
“Who knocked you up?” Kutrosky sneered, ignoring the squirming of his captives. “Was it your geneticist boyfriend? Did you finally give him what he’s wanted all this time?”
Kinn lurched his head up. This time no one shoved him down.
“Grace has come to help you, Kutrosky.” Danny jumped into the conversation on instinct alone to draw attention away from Grace.
Brian’s eyes flared and he turned to Danny. He walked to stand toe-to-toe with him.
“Didn’t I tell you I would kill you next time I saw you?” he said.
Danny remained silent, his stiff back and solid jaw all the answer he would give.
Brian chuckled at the show. He took a step back and flicked his head to the man standing behind him. That man stepped forward and punched Danny in the gut. Heather and Grace screamed and Stacey and Jonah bellowed protests. Danny crumpled, sharp pain radiating through his torso. Hands behind his back, he lost his balance and spilled forward, skis shooting out at odd angles. His glasses fell off, landing in the snow.
“I came here to talk to you in peace, Brian,” Grace shouted in a desperate attempt to salvage the conversation. “I’ve been deeply concerned that your people are having a hard time this winter.”
“Oh you’ve been deeply concerned, have you?” The spite in his voice made Grace shrink back. He threw out his arms, glancing at each of them in a mock search. “Where’s your Trojan Horse, Grace? Didn’t bring an army with you this time to drive us out of our homes when you don’t get what you want?”
“Hey, fuck you!” Kinn shouted from the ground, face and neck red with anger and cold.
One flick of Kutrosky’s hand and Irv and the men on either side of Kinn attacked him. They kicked and pummeled him until he crumpled into the red-splattered snow around him. Even then, they didn’t let him alone. As soon as he was down one of the men grabbed him by the hair and yanked him up to face Kutrosky, blood dripping from his nose, face puffy, eyes rolled back in his head.
Stacey, Jonah, and Heather all tried to rebel, elbowing the men who jumped to restrain them and trying to kick in spite of their skis. All three were wrestled to the ground, relieved of their skis, faces pushed into the snow.
Danny growled and tried one last time to free his hands as h
e lunged toward Kutrosky from his knees, pushing his glasses further into the snow. His guard grabbed the hood of his parka and pulled back, choking him until he saw stars.
“Brian! Please. Stop this. I’ve come to help you,” Grace, the only one of their group left on her feet, pleaded with him. “This is madness.”
“Madness, is it?” Brian rounded on her, eyes hot with fury.
“We came here in peace. We want to help you.”
“Fine. Then help me, Grace. Where is it?”
Grace’s mouth, open in appeal, snapped shut and she blinked.
Danny stopped struggling, rolled his head to the side with a pained wince, and stared up at the blur that was Kutrosky. He squinted, but the scene didn’t come any clearer. Jeff’s revelation slammed to the forefront of his mind with nothing but dread.
“Where is what?” Grace replied with a swallow.
Kutrosky surged forward, hands outstretched to Grace’s throat. Mid-stride he changed his mind and fell back as both Danny and Kinn shouted curses. Grace’s chest heaved with panicked breaths, her eyes wide.
Danny cursed himself for caving in to her need to attempt this insanity so easily. He should have planned the mission first. He should have pressed Jeff for more information. He should never have let Grace cross the river in the first place. Every evil that had happened to her since the moment they met had been of his creation.
“Don’t play coy with me, Grace,” Kutrosky said. He flexed his hands then clenched them into fists at his sides. “You might not know what you have, but I have no doubt you have it. She would have made certain.”
“Brian, I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about,” Grace answered him, voice trembling. She held out her open hands to him. “I have nothing.”
Kutrosky grimaced, his teeth remaining bared while the rest of his face relaxed. “She would pull something like that,” he muttered. He paced a few steps to the side then rounded on Grace. “You’re here because you must think I have it.”
“Have what?” Grace pleaded. The composure she’d walked into the situation with was gone. “I came here to offer you help, food, shelter, and you treat my friends like—”
“It doesn’t matter.” Kutrosky shook his head, brushing Grace’s appeal off with a wave of his hands. He paced to the side then opened his stance to address everyone listening. “In a matter of days, weeks at most, none of this will matter. Vengeance is coming.”
More than a few of the cowering people watching the scene glanced up at the sky as if by rote. One or two looked as though they could be praying, as if Kutrosky was their prophet.
A piece of the puzzle Carrie had left him clicked into place. This was what Kutrosky was wrong about. This was why Vengeance hadn’t come.
“He’s lying,” he shouted, straightening as much as he could with his knees in the snow and his hands behind his back. If he was going to die then he might as well die for the truth and take Kutrosky down with him.
He met Kutrosky’s eyes without fear when the man turned shocked fury on him.
“You’re talking about your so-called rescue ship, aren’t you?” he said.
Kutrosky lunged through the snow to him, grabbing the front of Danny’s parka in two strong fists. “Where is it?”
Adrenaline pushed Danny’s fear and pain away. He panted, blood surging, and threw caution to the wind.
“Don’t they know?” He raised his voice so everyone watching could hear. “It doesn’t exist. You’ve been lying about rescue this whole time, letting these people starve while—”
Kutrosky lashed out, smashing him with the back of his hand to shut him up.
Danny wouldn’t back down. “It’s a lie. The whole thing is a lie.”
“You think it’s a lie, do you? Do you?” He wrenched Danny to his feet and held him nose-to-nose. “You scientists don’t believe in anything. Why should I be surprised that you don’t believe in salvation?”
“There’s no salvation to believe in,” Danny held his ground. Carrie would be proud of him.
“No?” Kutrosky straightened, turning to the audience of his people. He threw Danny aside. Danny stumbled and dropped to the snow. “Nothing to believe in?”
A few forced laughs threaded through the onlookers. Kutrosky sneered and turned back to Danny, glanced to Grace and the others.
“Let’s take a little visit to the beacon, shall we?”
“So it’s decided then.” Sean had set his handheld on the table. He had called the informal meeting while the rest of them had still been eating their lunches. The cafeteria had been buzzing with conversation and laughter, but Sean had pushed their group into a black hole of needless seriousness. “We release the information that the genetics team has gathered for the Secondary Protocol.”
“Only if you want to cause an undue amount of stress on board a cramped ship full of horny men and women who have been told not to form intimate relationships or they will face a penalty,” Danny replied with deliberate sarcasm. He kept outwardly calm, though his skin prickled. He didn’t care whose toes he stepped on. The last thing he wanted was for the information he’d spent years compiling to end up public knowledge. “Besides, people are already stirred up because of the Kutrosky incident.”
Stacey and Jonah and a few of the others hummed in agreement. Sean stared at him as though Danny had spit on his father’s grave.
“The Secondary Protocol isn’t a secret, unlike whatever other work you geneticists are here to do.” He braced his hands on the table and leaned forward as though he would attack. “It isn’t even policy. It’s a back-up measure. Releasing it will simply mean that people can see who in the Project would be the best genetic match for them.”
“But what purpose would it serve?” Beth joined the conversation from a few seats down.
“Are we going to post it in the cafeteria?” Stacey grinned, winking at Grace from where she sat across the table chewing on her sandwich. “Will we get to walk up to it and check to see if we got the part, like high school?”
“No.” Sean frowned at her. “We’ll simply make the file available online. People can check it or not check it at their leisure.” He darted a quick glance to Grace. Danny caught the look in spite of the fact that Sean tried to hide it. He was attempting to stack the deck, there was no doubt. At least Grace was still busy making faces at Stacey.
“What, so once this list is posted people can see who they’re supposed to be talking to and who they’re supposed to be avoiding? Are they going to be requiring us to only associate with certain people and forcing us to avoid others because of it?” Beth shook her head and stabbed her salad. “I refuse to approve any measure that would impede the freedom of the people involved in The Terra Project.”
“Our freedom is restricted enough as is,” Grace said softly, her face losing its playful light. She touched Danny’s leg under the table, then focused on her lunch. Danny’s heart turned over in his chest. He needed to step up his efforts to get her out of the Project, the sooner the better. As soon as he found Carrie, they would set the wheels in motion.
“Grace.” Sean shifted in his seat, disapproval mingled with desperation. “I didn’t expect you, of all people, to object to this measure.”
She glanced up, her eyes flickering to meet Danny’s before moving on to Sean’s. “I understand your logic, Sean. We’re well over halfway through our journey and yes, maybe we should be looking for attachments.” She paused, moving her hand away from Danny’s leg. “But these kinds of suggestions are just another form of manipulation, aren’t they?”
“Manipulation, huh?” Sean stared directly at Danny. Danny met him with a benign smile.
“That’s my point exactly.” Beth missed the subtext. “This whole idea of forcing people together fast to pop out babies as quickly as we can is archaic. It smacks of some sort of genetic breeding program. Almost like they’re interested in our potential offspring more than they’re interested in us.”
A cold ripple passe
d over the table. Beth, Jonah, even Sean to a degree, sat perfectly still as the possibility stirred in their expressions. Danny avoided everyone’s eyes.
“Hey,” Stacey interrupted the tension with a laugh. “Look, the report says my best match for genetic diversity is Gilbert Fitzpatrick. That’s that cute astrophysicist Gil, isn’t it? Sweet!”
The tension around the table dissolved. A few of the other people in the meeting picked up their handhelds with guilty glances to one another. Grace was one of them.
“That’s strange,” she frowned at the data that flashed across the screen after a few minutes.
“What?” Sean snatched up his handheld and flicked through the data himself.
Grace shrugged, glancing up to meet Danny’s eyes. “I’m not on the list.”
Kutrosky lead the swollen group of prisoners, guards, and anxious observers through the maze of mounds and up the side of the far ridge. They followed a path that was well-maintained, even more so than the paths in the cluster of mounds. A structure was visible from the base of the hill. It was round, with smoke coming from a hole in the roof. The roof and entire area surrounding the structure had been cleared. The sides were decorated with furs and what could have been strings of colorful stones. A few windows had been cut in the curving walls that were shuddered with almost transparent skins. The details shifted slowly from blurs to clarity as Danny moved closer. If anything on the moon could be called a temple, this was it.
A pair of women stepped up out of a narrow doorway as they approached. One was pregnant while the other carried a baby. They were both well-fed but wary. As Kutrosky’s men approached them, they turned away and hid their faces.
Danny was shoved up to the front of the line that marched to the house, close enough for Kutrosky to keep an eye on him and for him to make out the man’s puffy red face in detail. Since the last time Danny had seen him, Brian’s hair had gone white around the edges and a fine lattice of veins stood out on his cheeks. Maybe they would get lucky and Kutrosky would drop dead of a heart attack.
“Grace thinks we’re in trouble,” Kutrosky scoffed, glaring past Danny to Grace, who was being hurried along by a pair of armed men. “As you can see, we’re perfectly fine. We have the best of everything, shelter, furs, food.”
