Earth-Ground (Genetically Altered Humans, #2)

by Rena Marks

  They were exploring one of her underground facilities. She had several shuttles that could be used as escape pods during an emergency, or could simply be made as to look as though the Xeno Sapiens escaped, but instead hid out far below the surface of the landing pads. Each facility was set up to have food, water, and medicinal supplies already inside. Since no one but her knew of the locations, Steele would be able to telepathically communicate to Xeno Sapiens the escape routes should something arise.

  “Oh! The news is on,” Robyn said, flipping up the volume.

  “This is our second glimpse of the green-haired girl, Lily, out with her personal security guard, Jason Becker. If you remember the first story we brought to you, he carried her into Xenia though no one would tell us how or why she was incapacitated.” The camera swerved to see Lily’s approach, and the newscaster began screaming her name. “Lily! Lily! Can we ask you what you’re doing outside of the gates? We haven’t seen any other Xeno Sapiens yet. Will you talk to us?”

  A shy Lily nodded slowly, star struck with all the commotion. Jason kept by her side as the cameraman shone a light nearby to get every detail of her.

  “Lily? May we ask why you’re outside of Xenia?” The newscaster prompted.

  “Me? I’m just shopping. Jason promised me a new nose ring.” She winked. “But I bet I can get more than one.”

  The newscaster laughed. “I can’t imagine he’ll have the strength to hold out. Do you have any particular colors in mind?”

  “Well, I wear it all the time, so I don’t want anything that clashes with the green of my hair. And I want it to show a healthy sparkle. Cheap nose rings look like a zit on the side of a girl’s nose.”

  “Uhhh...” the newscaster seemed lost for words.

  Steele barked with laughter. “Oh, she did not. Look at Jason’s face. He’s horrified by what may come out of her mouth next.”

  Robyn started to giggle. “There’s a vein thumping in his forehead.”

  Lily continued on. “So possibly something like another diamond, only bigger and grander this time.”

  “Lily, do you have a last name?”

  Lily smiled broadly. “Just Xeno Sapien. I’m Lily Xeno Sapien. Dr. Robyn gave me my name because she decided I was as delicate as the flower. But alas, she was so busy saving us and all, she neglected to give us last names.” She shook her head forlornly, the soft green mass floating gently at the edge of her shoulders.

  “How about an age? Can we get an age for you?”

  Lily blinked. “I don’t think we have ages. I wasn’t born. I was made.”

  There was a pause again as the newscaster was at a loss for words, as if she wondered how she could ask about the horrors they endured, but was aware she was dealing with a child. Carefully she worded, “Can you share with us what you know of your existence in the lab?”

  “No,” Lily said, her voice strong. “It is too painful. I can tell you that with my species I am a library of sorts—storage for a lot of stories that have been lost in the wars with time—“

  “Oh, no,” Steele gritted, sitting up.

  “What’s going on?” Robyn said sharply.

  “I—feel her. She just came into an ability. Like I can suddenly be inside someone instead of just communicating telepathically. Like Blaze suddenly grew wings. Lily can—well think of her as the old fisherman’s tales of mermaids. Or the sirens, who lured men to their deaths. Hopefully, her human genes will dilute her abilities some since she’s on cam-feed with the world watching.”

  Live on the vid-cam, Jason looked confusedly at Lily, whose voice had changed softly.

  “My non-human DNA was from a species who lived underwater. We only swam to the surface to listen to land dwellers with stories to tell. The stories are...for lack of a better term, recorded in our brains. It is what we did, recording tales for countless generations to come. I have many of these stories inside me. Dr. Robyn believes it is cell memory that enables me to recall them.”

  “Stories, huh? Can you give us a sample?”

  “Of course. Do you know of the actual creation of your species?”

  “Mine?”

  “Yes. Your human species as—unlike me—you only have one species inside you.”

  “Of-of course,” the newscaster stammered. “The tales have been told through countless generations of the creation of Adam and Eve. But a more scientific approach is that we evolved from apes.”

  “Really? Then how is it your species only knew of otherworldly species during the discovery of Atlantis? Perhaps the tale is different than what I have recorded. Perhaps your tales, including the scientific approach, are merged.”

  The woman leaned in, a gleam in her eye. “Why don’t you share it with us?”

  Lily nodded, her strange hair taking on a life of its own as it wafted in strands that had long since escaped from her knot. “Long ago, a far away planet was in trouble. The species, known as Anaki, were master geneticists, so focused on the creation of peoples that they lost focus on the structure of their planet. The atmosphere was disintegrating and a precious metal needed to fortify it, depleted. They searched the galaxies to find more and found a planet—this one—with the gold in abundance buried deep within the ground. The only inhabitants of the planet were beings without intelligence, deemed animals. It was a win/win situation. No one would object to the Anaki taking what they needed.

  “But it wasn’t an honor to be relegated to the party who would come and mine the gold so others at home may continue to live. Instead, it was a humiliation for those sent here to toil in the mines. After a millennium, they rebelled, demanding to be returned home to their planet that was no longer dying. Yet the gold still needed mining. That’s when the leader, one of the great scientists of his own world, decided more could be done. You see, all the manpower was here, right on this planet. A whole slew of slaves, unfortunately only animals. It was against the law of nature to change evolution, but what if they jumped the gun on starting it through genetic engineering? No one need know, especially if the first hybrid creations had no intelligence and would die out naturally after being used as a workhorse. A new race was started on this planet, creatures derived from the primate species—who had already evolved into a basic, bipedal humanoid form. This race was named Adam, meaning created, or to make. For a while, it was a joyous time until jealousy ensued with the Anaki over the created ones. Surely this species could be made better—and therefore would work harder if they could actually think about how to work instead of completing instructed tasks mindlessly. So others manipulated the humans again, giving them extra chromosomal genes needed for sexual procreation. They added the advanced DNA of the creator, and the Adam species now had the ability to think. Those early, naïve beings looked upon their creators from another planet as gods from the heavens. And while these gods laughed at the ignorance of the Adam, over time their egos grew to monumental proportions. How could they not? They were worshipped.

  “But the newcomers—the Anaki—brought with them their own conflict and wars. Other beings were angry with the twisting of the law to change evolution on a planet that had not yet evolved, especially as some of the Anaki were breeding with the new Earthling females. Eventually, the conflict escalated, and a nuclear war ensued, killing most of the creatures of the planet, including the majestic beasts that you called the dinosaurs.”

  The newscaster’s mouth hung open, as entranced as she was in the story. The camera was still focused on Lily—whose skin began to glow with a slight green color as if someone lit a bulb beneath her skin. It was an ethereal kind of beauty and held one captivated by both the vision and the tale.

  “The Adam—now known as Earthlings—were scattered by the creators across the planet. They were dumbed down, so to speak. Ten of their DNA strands deactivated so they were left with just two. They were given different languages to keep the tales of the gods to a minimum. The tales became religions. But again, mankind did not turn out the way the gods envisioned. The city of
Atlantis was constructed to keep an eye on these early beings, a portal allowing other beings besides Anaki into Earth to watch the new evolution evolve naturally, without interference from further gene manipulation. A policing community, of sorts. But again, the Anaki—the jealous creators that they were—were determined to stamp out interference from the council of leaders in Atlantis and were determined to show their more aggressive power with weather manipulation. The Great Flood came, killing all those who lived in the city, crushing the council under gallons of dirty water and despair until Atlantis became just a rumored legend—“

  “That’s enough,” Jason cut in with a forced laugh, pulling Lily away with a hand on her arm. “We must get going. We have a limited time frame, and it’s cutting into her shopping time.”

  “Mr. Becker, can we ask you some questions?” The woman seemed to come to her senses, now that Lily’s entrancement was lifted.

  Jason continued to walk away, still holding onto Lily.

  “Mr. Becker,” the newscaster yelled out. “Your ex-wife has filed a lawsuit to allow her onto the Xenia premises to conduct a search for missing Crested Ute executives. Will you allow the media in to film her failures or findings?”

  Jason turned momentarily. “If my ex-wife is allowed to infiltrate Xenia, we will certainly allow certain media outlets in with her.”

  Robyn smiled. “Good job. He’s making promises and making us look like the good guys for doing so...but there’s no chance he’ll ever have to follow through.”

  The newscaster’s closing statement was brief. “And there you have it. That was Lily Xeno Sapien, out shopping for nose rings just like any other teenage girl would.”

  “Lily just named us all,” Steele said. “Steele Xeno Sapien. It’s a mouthful.”

  Robyn shrugged. “It could have been worse.”

  “How so?”

  “Steele GAH is what some of the teens were throwing out there as a buzz word.” She grinned. Then she sobered. “I’d better check out what everyone’s saying about the interview. Hopefully, her story hasn’t spooked anyone. Can you connect with her?”

  Steele lowered his chin to his chest, his eyes glazing. “Jason is asking her what happened.”

  “Why don’t you try to use your power to be there? See if Lily will talk to him through you.”

  He nodded and then spoke out loud. “Jason? Steele is here. He would like me to tell you I just came into my power and probably didn’t realize it. He has Robyn checking the newscasts to see how everyone’s reacting.”

  He paused.

  “Jason said he figured. Her glow was odd.” He smiled. “He also said me going through Lily is fucking weird. I reminded him that Lily was present and could hear his curse words. I left him with her asking if fucking was more of a major curse word. And, how did it compare to something like hell or damnation because she was more familiar with those two.”

  Robyn laughed. “I’m sorry you left without listening to his reply.”

  “I couldn’t bear to. You know how his voice goes higher and gets kind of squeaky? It’s painful to hear. Anything on the feeds?”

  Robyn’s fingers were still skimming across the keyboard of light, her fingers knowing where the keys were instead of feeling or seeing. “Surprisingly, people are more lenient for Lily than they would say Beast or Blaze. I think Jason was onto something when he said to give a couple glimpses of her. People tend to sympathize with her.”

  “No one is looking at her as a threat?”

  “Not yet. I mean, there are the usual haters. But the more sane ones are excusing it as a more fanciful human teen with subtle differences. They’re stressing the whole nose ring needs to look unlike a zit comment as proof.”

  Steele shook his head. “Only Lily.”

  Robyn laughed, and then caught herself yawning.

  “Early pregnancy hormones,” Steele said. “Take a nap. There’s plenty of work to be done when we get back. Let’s just enjoy today.”

  “I wouldn’t mind curling up for fifteen minutes or so,” Robyn said with another yawn. Steele covered her with a blanket and lay down next to her.

  SHE WAS AWARE SHE SLEPT longer than the self-allotted fifteen minutes. It had to have been since she was caught in the middle of a dream. A nightmare.

  Her limbs were heavy, her eyes were heavy, everything was heavy except for the lightest part of her—her eyelids. Trying to avoid the vision in front of her was a lost cause.

  All the people she’d grown to love, struggling for air in the small locker of space they were being forced into.

  With a push of a button, a piece of glass came down over the recessed walls, trapping the Xeno Sapiens in. They began to struggle as if they knew what was coming. Hell, she knew what was coming. This wasn’t just a dream. This was a memory, one she’d lived a few months before.

  A cloudy gas began to fill each chamber. Robyn focused on Steele, watched his chest expand as he tried to hold his breath, but the exercise was futile. Minutes passed, slowly ticking by, a slow, slow torture. She wanted to scream, but she could do nothing but...watch. Steele’s eyes grew wider as he fought for precious air instead of the thick gas that clogged his lungs.

  No! She couldn’t stand this horror, watching him suffocate slowly, painfully. Next to him, Beast was jerking on the backboard. He used his brute strength to snap one of the straps and raised his fist to break the window. Too late. Suddenly, his hand fell weakly against the glass, fingers spread wide as he lost consciousness.

  Renegade still struggled, but Pax was already still, frozen in time with his eyes open in a horrified grimace, the pain of being unable to draw that last bit of air into his oxygen-deprived lungs written across his face.

  No! They were...dying. Their lives, each person she’d come to know and love, were being sucked away before her eyes. She couldn’t shriek, she couldn’t avert her eyes from the horror in front of her. She couldn’t even beg and plead. Not Steele! She’d had so little time with him. Why hadn’t she tried to move forward quicker? Foolish of her to think she had the full six months of her term to work with.

  The last image she had was of Steele’s dawning realization of his own demise. His eyes bored into hers, the position fixing on her as he lost sight. She was the last thing he saw when he died.

  “Shut down the processor,” Meade barked.

  “Brain waves flat,” Doctor Chen called.

  Still, she couldn’t stop watching because her traitorous body refused to move. Refused to allow her to lower her head, or to tear her burning eyes away.

  “Infuse with oxygen! Then let’s open them up and get life support to the organs. Come on, people, you know the protocol. Bobby? Please get the ladies to their suites to sleep it off while we take on the destruction of their toys.”

  In her dream, Robyn was as helpless as she had been in real life. Her limbs were heavy, down to the smallest finger that took all her strength to give the slightest movement. But what good was a wriggling pinky? Especially when her head collapsed down to her chest and she was unable to bring it back up. But at least the tortured sight of killed Xeno Sapiens was no longer in front of her face.

  “No,” she sobbed, wrenching the voice from her paralyzed chest. “No.”

  She fought against the movement of the rolling chair, trying desperately to make it stop. She tried to wriggle her frozen body, hoping she could thrust herself from the seat.

  “No!” Her body felt heavier than ever.

  “Robyn. Wake up, my love.”

  She opened her eyes, staring into the dark eyes of Steele. He lay on top of her, holding her struggling body down. That was why she felt so heavy.

  “You were fighting something and screaming. I was afraid you were going to fall out of bed.”

  “A dream. It was just a dream.”

  A wing of a black eyebrow rose. “Of what?”

  “The day they paralyzed us and put you to death. I couldn’t move. I was forced to watch the whole thing.”

  He rol
led over on the bed, pulling her body on top of his. His hand stroked her spine, rubbing gently on each bony protrusion.

  “Some days I think memory loss is a blessing. Other days I realize that no matter what, it makes us stronger. It made you stronger. You were brave enough to take the next step. To introduce a foreign chemical into your brain to give you enough strength to steal us away. To establish an entire facility above ground.”

  “I should have done it much sooner. I could have saved everyone from the nightmare.”

  “You saved the teenagers and many others from having to be woken up. You claimed they perished while you stole them to take to safety above ground. That’s one less nightmare they have to deal with.”

  “Perhaps it’s not as difficult for them.”

  “It’s not. That’s how I know you saved them from that fate. More than one has accidentally pulled my consciousness into their dreams.”

  “What?”

  “My...gift, if you could call it that.”

  “Oh, Steele. I’m so sorry.”

  He shrugged. “So are they when they find they pull me in. But then I think they are a little bit relieved that they don’t have to suffer through the memory alone. After that, some feel a little ashamed that I know their deepest secret. I remind them that we’re a family and none of us are alone any longer.”

  “That’s what we need to work on during their medical sessions. How they did nothing wrong and have nothing to be ashamed of. Each Xeno Sapien, from the smallest teen to the strongest, was a victim.” She raised her head to look into his eyes. “What is it that you’re ashamed of?”

  “How I hated you after the revival. I had an innate distrust, and I couldn’t figure out why. The other three—Beast, Pax, and Renegade, were all on your side. They said I was being unreasonable, but I couldn’t see it.”

  “You sensed previous feelings for me. The start of our earlier relationship. But you couldn’t remember me after your death. Of course, there was distrust.”