Chapter Thirteen
Children of Nyx
6:48 P.M...
They walked through the concealed door and found a brightly lit room with beige carpeting. The second room felt different than the first; it felt even less used when the facility was in operation. Against the right wall stood a bookshelf full of volumes and against the left one a filing cabinet. Kat moved to the cabinet and opened the top drawer through the fourth, finding them empty, and then she opened the last drawer, and it was also empty, but Kat saw a corner of a folder that had fallen underneath. She removed the bottom drawer from the cabinet, set it to the side, grabbed the file, and started through it, and while she did that, Kim went to the book shelf, grabbed a book, and flipped through the pages, searching for anything of interest. Once she was done, she dropped it to the floor and started on another.
Kim had a small pile going before she asked, "Did you find anything?"
"Yes," Kat answered as she walked to the center of the room. "A file, and one that appears to have been lost."
"On what?"
She scanned three sheets and then replied, "The first part is about a Greek Goddess, and it explains how Nyx is the Goddess of Night." Kat turned to the forth, fifth, and sixth sheets and then said, "Some of the information's blacked out. This next part talks about the Children of Nyx, and here's a blacked out area ending with that Nemesis is Retribution and Eris is Strife." She turned to the seventh sheet. "This page talks about an experiment." She read further. "I don't believe it."
"What is it?" Kim asked as she moved from the shelf to her.
Katharine's view...
I tell her, "The Council were the ones involved with organic-mecha."
I think about what it means for me, and if it's true, they could be the ones who made me. I can't think that way. I can't doubt my humanity, but at the slightest mention, I'm all freaked out that I am. I have to stop and have some faith in myself that I'm real.
Kimberly's view...
Organic-mecha? That's right... I still don't know if that woman's human or some patched together monstrosity created in a lab.
"Yes," she states. "This last page talks about organic-mecha. I was told..."
"You mean by the Rogue?" I interrupt. "Hades... I'd like to forget I ever ran into that thing, so let's not mention it again."
Katharine's view...
"Okay," I reply.
I think back to the Factory. The Rogue told me there were no successful attempts and that the organic-mecha experiment failed, but if it failed, why did the Rogue believe I was one of them?
I see how Kimberly's looking at me, and I feel crush by what she must think of me. I want her to see me as normal. I want her to see me as someone she can rely on. I want... I want to be able to trust her.
End Katharine's view...
Kim asked, "What's on the next page?"
Kat turned to the tenth and answered, "It's a poem. I'll read it to you."
"The Children of Nyx,
Goddess of Night and Destroyer of Day.
Rise up children
and enact your names.
For metal you were conceived,
but flesh you were made.
Spread over the earth,
take your positions,
and watch and direct events
till the Closing Of Days."
"Not my taste in poetry. Is there anything else in the folder?" Kim questioned.
"A few pictures–" Kat replied as she flipped through the last pages, "–but no more documents." She removed her backpack, unzipped it, and placed the Lost File inside.
"We have nothing still." Kim moved back to the shelf and said, "Help me with these and let's see if we can find something." She removed a book and flipped through it.
"Okay," Kat said, scanned them, grabbed one on Transgenics, and fingered through the pages. A photo fell to the floor, Kat picked it up, and examined the picture. "Kimberly."
"What?"
Kat turned the photo so she could see.
"That's my mom," Kim uttered as she took the picture and saw her spitting image sitting next to an older gentlemen. "Hades! But who's the guy she's with?"
"Let me see," Kat spoke, turned the Transgenics Text over, and looked at the author's photo on the back. "Adam Greenhouse. It says here he's the Father of Transgenics."
"Let me have a look." Kim took the book and mumbled, "We found a clue, but where will it lead me?" She then asked, "It can't be a coincidence, can it?"
"I don't think so. We should talk with this Mr. Greenhouse."
"Sure, but how do we find him?"
"May I?" Kat held out her hand for the book, Kim gave it to her, and Kat glanced at the photo of the author and flipped to the acknowledgments. "It says here that the picture was taken at Genesis Arboretum. Mr. Greenhouse worked there at the time of the photo." She handed back the book.
"It would be about–" Kim examined the date on the photo and said, "–three decades ago. Do you think he's still works at the arboretum?" She stared at his picture. "Or is he still alive? He looks pretty old in this photo."
"Only one way to find out," Kat said.
Kimberly's view...
"Then we'll be going on a field trip," I tell her.
Yay, I'm going to have to spend more time with that weird woman when all I want to do is put a bullet through her.
I say, "Before we go to Genesis, there are other things we have to consider first. What about the K-99s?"
She pats her backpack and answers, "I do have a few A.P.Rs. The armor piercing rounds should penetrate their visors."
"You have A.P.Rs.? Why didn't you use them?"
"Well..." she starts as she opens her backpack, takes out the Lost File, the Gel-Taser, and a few other items, and then grabs a handful of shells from the bottom and shows them to me. "They were kind of thrown in."
"For Ares' sake!" I shout. "You had them loose in your pack. You should've had them in a magazine ready for action."
I can't believe it. That woman is an idiot! A real honest-to-gods idiot!
End Kimberly's view...
"I know I should have. I just never got around to it." Kat counted them and said, "I have eight."
"And twelve robot mutts. We need more. Any ideas?"
Kat glanced around the room, saw a fire extinguisher, pointed, and said, "Maybe. Was there one of those in the other room?"
"I think so. Don't tell me you have a stupid plan."
"I won't," Kat stated like a child intending mischief then spoke, "I'm hoping for a brilliant one."
#2 Shades of Gray: From Moscow, With Love Page 14
