No sooner had their Romper touched down, the door sliding open, when Scotty and the others made a fast-dash for the cliff. An entrance, cut into the rock and flanked by a stone pillar on either side—looked to have been recently shored up. Scotty heard laughing, echoing off the stonewalls. Tori, the first to reach the short flight of steps leading within, ran in without looking back. Scotty, fast on her heels, entered a chiseled-out tunnel that was surprisingly cool inside and smelt dank and something else—maybe minerals, he guessed.
Kid’s laughter far up ahead must have been contagious because he heard Tori giggle a few times—which made him laugh, also. The chain reaction continued on behind him with Tiffany laughing the hardest.
The tunnel led into a large circular vault, of sorts. In turn, it offered them a choice of ten tunnel offshoots. Each one had stairs, rising up into darkness.
“How does anyone find their way around this place?” Ernesto asked. “I’m already lost.”
Tori, comfortable being in the lead, charged straight ahead into an opposite opening and scrambled up the steps. There was enough light to see where they were going, but just barely. Soon the stone steps were even steeper, a winding spiral staircase. In no time at all Scotty found himself huffing and puffing. He didn’t want to be first, needing to stop and catch his breath. No one ahead was laughing, now. Another ten minutes had passed, Scotty guessed, before they emerged from the confined stairway into a wider passageway. Bands of light filtered down from high above—perhaps from above the cliff. Both Tori and Scotty were now bent over, hands on his knees, panting.
The other kids in their group finally trudged their way into the passageway. Scotty had forgotten about the little Asian kid, Jill, who, had apparently adopted their group as her own.
Scotty said, “I can see wooden doors all along here … ”
“The Romper said unoccupied caves were clearly marked,” Trent said, already moving off to the left. Ten paces away he said, “Oh … I get it.”
“Get what?” Tiffany asked, following after him like a puppy.
“There’s a plaque, hanging down on a string. Says occupied.” Trent kept going down the passage without waiting for her to catch up.
Scotty said, “Maybe we should check it out, too, by going a different way.” Tori nodded then sped past him, running in the opposite direction of Trent. Four doors down they reached the first door that had an off-kilter plaque, reading ‘unoccupied.’ Tori, hesitating, looked to Scotty.
“I’ll go in first,” Scotty said. Since there wasn’t a doorknob, or a handle of any kind, he shoved the door inward. The door was heavy, so he had to put all his weight behind it. Fresh air and daylight greeted him as he stepped into an area that was both wide and deep. Directly across was the mouth of the cave, one of hundreds he’d spotted from the Romper. Around the oblong space were beds— no, more like cots. A folded stack of two or three khaki overalls lay at the foot of each cot. There were also individual night tables, holding small lamps.
He stepped aside making room for the others to enter when he noticed a little kitchen area off to his right and one of the port-a-potty units off to the left.
Tori said, “Home sweet home,” then ran toward a cot in the middle of the cave and flopped down onto her back. Squirming around a little, she smiled. “Not too bad.” She raised her head, “Well, what are you waiting for?” She pointed to the cot next to hers.
God she’s bossy, Scotty thought.
He watched as the rest of the kids ran in to claim their own cot. Tori had been right; the cot wasn’t all that bad. Scotty, glancing over, noticed she was up on her elbows intently staring at something. Judging by the seriousness of her expression, Scotty sat upright—scrutinized their surroundings. He almost missed seeing her—Seve’s energetic Vallic form, standing at the foot of Tori’s cot.
“You two will go first,” she said looking at Tori and then Scotty. “Best you both say your goodbyes now … just in case. And we need to hurry.”
Chapter 37
Hovering right outside the mouth of the cave was a different kind of vehicle, one that was small and dark. Of course, in keeping with other Vallic technology, it looked oddly organic in nature. It also looked a whole lot sleeker than their bulbous Romper. Scotty briefly wondered if it was capable of traveling into space.
But he was simply avoiding what was coming next, he knew. Scotty had to force himself to deal with the situation now at hand. The children were up on their feet, hugs being exchanged all around. He didn’t want to start crying while saying goodbye. The truth was, he barely knew these kids—hadn’t known any of them long. So why, then, was saying goodbye so difficult? He knew why. Because Horran had made it perfectly clear: Half of you will not survive the procedure.
Scotty turned to look at Tori. He hadn’t realized just how small she really was. He saw that her overall pant legs were rolled up into cuffs above her boots. Standing on tiptoes, she was giving Ernesto a hug as wet tear tracks reflected off her cheeks. Ernesto simply looked terrified. Was he thinking the same thing? Scotty wondered. Will it be Scotty who returns … or will it be Tori?
Seve quietly stood off to the side, patiently waiting.
Sniffling and looking defiant, Tiffany approached her. “How can you do this? Have a bunch of little kids go through something like this? You know what? You’re all barbarians … you’re cruel, and I hope all of you burn in hell!”
It was impossible to get a true read on Seve’s expression, since she was in her mostly featureless Vallic form. She continued to hold Tiffany’s staring contempt a moment longer before turning toward Scotty and Tori. “You ready to go?”
Tori said, “No!”
Scotty shrugged, “I guess.”
They followed Seve toward the sleek, awaiting craft. Tori took Scotty’s hand in hers—intertwining their fingers—still openly weeping. Perhaps her tears made it easier for him not to cry.
The craft was suspended in mid-air, about a yard out from the side of the cliff. Seve leapt across into an open hatchway. She stood aside and signaled the two children to do the same. Tori turned and gave one last wave to the other kids—tossing out another choke-filled goodbye—then jumped across. Scotty jumped right behind her, not looking back.
The craft was equipped with three rows of seats in the rear, plus two seats in the forward cockpit area—one now occupied by a male Vallic form. Seve moved to the far side of the vessel and took a seat. Tori sat next to her while Scotty sat across from them, in the row of seats that faced toward the back. As the vessel sped away from the side of the cliff, Scotty avoided looking back at the mouth of the cave—at the kids standing there, who were, most assuredly, waving goodbye.
Through the membrane windows, Scotty could see they were heading toward the buildings at the other end of the valley. The craft rose above the treetops, banked into a tight left turn, then, moments later, descended sharply down. Scotty watched as the pilot maneuvered the craft beneath the tallest building, which he could see was standing on stilts. A parking garage was below, with a handful of similar-looking vehicles inside.
Was this really happening? Scotty glanced across at Tori, now looking straight back at him. If one of them had to die, he hoped it would be him. He’d never met anyone like her before. Someone so confident … so alive.
* * *
Now seated in some kind of medical facility, Scotty fidgeted in his chair. Seve was speaking to him. Re-focusing his attention on her, he asked, “Can you repeat that please?”
“I said there are numerous outposts similar to this one. Several on each continent actually, although most support staff have already moved on. You know, to help out on other worlds … worlds further away than Hope. The staff, those who remained behind such as myself, will be staying here indefinitely. So, you’re stuck with us,” Seve said, giving him an easy smile.
Scotty nodded up at her. She was standing—actually leaning—within the open threshold of a nearby doorway. Seve was again in her Human form—Ms.
Keeler—his always-chipper substitute teacher at Whiteoak Elementary School. Five minutes earlier, Tori had been escorted away by someone who definitely was an Earth Human; a baldheaded man wearing glasses. Staring now at the closed door of the adjacent room, he wondered what they were doing in there to Tori.
“When you wake up, I want you to remember something,” Seve said.
“What’s that?” Scotty asked.
“That it will get better. That you are stronger than you think.”
“You mean if I wake up,” he wanted to say, but didn’t. “So, this is some kind of hospital?”
“Of sorts. It is where I went through a similar Dyad-Geneses procedure.”
“How long were you here … after you woke up?”
“Several weeks. Look, there’s nothing easy about this, Scotty. Over and beyond how much it hurts, you will be learning how to operate in a whole new type of existence. Having another, separate body. It is beyond weird … not something I can explain. But you’ll see.”
She then gave Scotty an offhand facial expression, remarkably similar to one his mother would have given. Seve, or Ms. Keeler, who was about his mother’s age, looked nothing like her. He had to force himself not to think about home; about the family he probably would never see again. He badly wanted to tell Seve he wanted to go home—needed to go home. “I wish Larry was here with me,” he said instead.
Seve, sympathetic, offered up a melancholy smile.
“How come grownups here never tell us what to do?”
“We’ve learned from past experience that doing that does not facilitate the best outcome. Better to encourage independent thought and action—even bravery. Those that can handle what happens here, and all the turmoil to come, will be far better suited for what comes later, years from now. So, don’t expect to be coddled or mommied. The good news, Scotty, is there are no bosses here, no one barking off orders.”
“And Horran, he’ll deal with the kids that don’t handle things all that well?” Scotty asked.
“Maybe, but not just Horran. What’s out there, too;” Seve, staring out the closest window, added, “You have no idea how dangerous it is here.”
“What’s out there?” Scotty asked, not even trying to hide the dread in his voice.
She thought about that. “Remember back in school, when we talked about Earth’s Cretaceous Period?”
“The last part of the dinosaur age, right?”
Seve nodded. “But this is Hope, not Earth. There are none of the same plants or animals here. The genomes are completely different. But DNA has a tendency to evolve similarly, even on different worlds. At least on the ones sharing similar climates and world gravitational properties. But nothing is exactly the same here. You will see. Yes, it is an amazing, wondrous, planet, but one that must be tamed before the people of Earth will be able to survive here.”
The door adjacent to theirs opened. The same baldheaded man, now wearing a long, white lab coat, hurried out and quickly shut the door behind him. Scotty tried to glimpse inside Tori’s room, but he wasn’t able to do so.
The baldheaded man said, “Let’s go, buddy! Your turn!” then disappeared into the room next to Tori’s.
“Is she okay … did she … ?”
“We won’t know for a while. Don’t think about Tori right now. Think about being strong … about seeing Larry and your family again. That can happen, you know. Honest,” Seve said.
Scotty rose to his feet, desperately wanting to believe her.
Chapter 38
Two weeks had passed. Much of the first week was a nightmarish blur. At times the searing pain had been so intense Scotty wanted to croak—had prayed to just be allowed to die. The new Vallic energetic aspects of his physiology continuously burned, like having acid poured onto various points of his skin all over his body. At times, he thought he could actually smell the odor of charred flesh hanging in the air. A full week passed before he was able to sit up in bed without throwing up or blacking out.
There was much Seve had not told him about what was to come. For instance, she hadn’t mentioned the simple fact that within hours after the procedure, his physical form would start metamorphosing. With the successful indoctrination of Vallic DNA into his physiology, he would start to change; not change from one type of species into another, but would have both species present within him at the very same time. He remembered the doctor, whom he now knew was named Dr. Miller, had mentioned at one point that the radically different genetic makeups of the two forms weren’t playing well physically with each other. And, for some reason according to the doctor, that was a good thing.
Seve entered the room and Scotty wondered if this was the first time she’d visited him since he’d arrived here. She was in her Vallic state. Something about her was different. He stared up at her face and noticed she was smiling—a smile that reached her eyes. But how was that possible? The Vallic did not have prominent features—at least, not like Humans. He wanted to comment on this bewildering observation, but couldn’t; he was not able to speak vocally since undergoing that god-awful procedure.
“Good morning, Scotty. You look much better today.”
So she did visit me, he thought.
Seve reached out and took his hand, then looked at his arm. Still the same to the touch, splotches of nearly transparent, blue-glowing areas speckled his skin. Half Vallic and half Human, he also knew from his own observation that he was spotted similarly pretty much all over his body.
“Still burns?” she asked.
Scotty nodded rapidly to emphasize the point. Yeah—burns beyond anything I’ve ever felt before.
“Has the physical therapist been in everyday?”
Scotty nodded again then furrowed his brow.
“I know it’s painful, not at all fun; but the only way you will be able to maintain two separate genome forms is through mastering your mental state— mind over matter.” She pointed to one of the larger Vallic formations, showing on his upper arm. “This is a good one here. Let me see how you transform that particular area from Vallic to Human … can you do that?”
Scotty shook his head no.
“Come on … do it for me.”
Scotty went through the mental steps that Nemon, his female Vallic therapist, had been teaching him how to do. For hours and hours, in fact—over the past few days. He focused his concentration solely on that one glowing, see-through, bluish splotch. The first step was to inwardly acknowledge how that one Vallic area felt compared to the areas of Human flesh surrounding it. Only by being keenly aware of both physical states individually, would he be able to take the next step. Second, he had to erase all doubt from his psyche. He had to believe he could make the change. Even the slightest doubt, or uncertainty, would foil such attempts. And finally—the most difficult part—he had to mentally call-up a myriad of chemically produced metabolic enzymes, which would act as a catalyst for converting one DNA genome structure for the other. He had no idea what any of that meant, but his therapist had repeated it so many times by now it was forever etched into his memory. But, in time, he’d been taught to detect mentally induced micro-changes within his physiology. It took several minutes before the Vallic splotch began changing genetically—molecule by molecule anatomically—making the necessary internal alterations to become the dominant, Human, physiology. He watched as the splotch became more and more solid. Eventually he was studying what appeared to be normal Human skin. Even tiny arm hairs had reemerged.
“Excellent!” Seve exclaimed.
Exhausted, Scotty exhaled a long breath. He closed his eyes, deflated it took so much effort to transform such a small part of himself. How would he ever transform his entire body, like Seve could do in an instant? He shot a sideways glance toward the opposite wall—the wall of the room adjoining his—where he knew Tori had undergone an equivalent procedure. He hadn’t asked about her and no one had volunteered any information. Some part of him suspected the answer anyway. He’d survived—she had not, otherwise, th
ey would have told him, right?
As if reading his thoughts, Seve said, “You know, over the last two weeks each of the others in your group has also gone through this same Dyad-Geneses procedure. Mortality percentages were better than average.”
Scotty shook his head, not understanding what she was saying.
“Fewer, on average, died. But yes, several did not make it, I’m sorry to say, Scotty.”
He thought of them now. A weird group of kids he barely knew, not having spent that much time with them. Still, for some reason, each and every one of them had become immensely important to him. In some ways, perhaps, even more so than his own family. These kids had shared the same unimaginable obstacles he had; abducted away from their families; whisked off from everything familiar. Facing the same high odds of dying from some kind of monstrous medical procedure. He thought of them now: Tiffany, with her ponytailed dark-red hair and freckled face. One of the brave ones, he liked her. Then there was Ernesto, the skinny black kid, who was always hyper and moving around. He was also funny; pretty much said anything that popped into his mind. Courtney and Trent, somewhat similar to each other in looks—blond hair and rather plain looking—were more on the shy side. He didn’t know Jill, the Asian kid, well enough to form much of an opinion about her yet. And then there was Tori …
He read the sadness in Seve’s expression. He closed his eyes. Felt a familiar tightening within his chest—deep sorrow taking ahold of his heart. No. He didn’t want to know which kid—who it was—he would never see again. It was better not knowing.
Boy Gone Page 16
