by Neal Jones
The lady empress returned to her bed and doused the light. She felt her way through the darkness to the door and then crept slowly through the other room until she was standing at K'Sana's bed. She reached out and gently grasped the girl's shoulder. The child came awake instantly, and Larewyn pressed a hand over her mouth.
"Go to the kitchen and prepare a cup of my favorite tea. Bring it to me, and do not wake the others."
K'Sana nodded, and Larewyn slipped softly back to her room, sliding the door shut behind her. She crawled back into bed, wrapping herself in the thick blankets, and then switched on the bedside lamp. She laid back, closing her eyes, trying to remember what frightening monster had populated the landscape of her sleep this time. It was always a monster of some kind, something without a face or name, and it was always lurking just around whatever corner she was approaching. That was what her dreams had felt like lately, a sense of wandering in dark places – halls, streets, mountains, ghostly valleys or dangerous gardens – and always something, or someone, close by, stalking her with relentless force.
And now she felt again the sense of dread and fear that had overtaken her waking hours as well. There was no rationale for it, no name to give it, no reason for its presence, yet she felt it just the same. It was a sense of despair, a premonition of something terrible just over the horizon, yet all of Doctor Grund's efforts and medications had not silenced this fear. Larewyn felt hot tears welling at the corners of her eyes, and she rubbed them away until her skin was raw. She turned on her side, trying to curl up as much as possible, and buried her face in her pillow.
"M'lady?"
Larewyn blinked, startled by the voice, and then she realized she must have fallen asleep again while waiting. At least dozing was better than nothing. She shook her head as she threw off the blankets and worked herself into a sitting position. K'Sana handed her the tea, her head bowed.
"You can look at me, child. I won't be as cross as I was earlier today. It's why I've summoned you, of course."
The girl looked up, hesitant. "M'lady?" she said meekly.
"What you said to me in the gardens today, tell me more. What exactly is this root? Is it something that's going to make me shit every half an hour?"
"No. No, m'lady! It is harmless, and it tastes sweet."
"A root that tastes sweet?"
"Yes, m-"
"Enough with the 'm'lady's! Just tell me what's so special about this root."
K'Sana hesitated, and then said, "It's from the freythun bush that grows in the mountains on my homeworld. It grows here too. One of the kitchen boys told me that he saw fields of those bushes in the mountains outside Gtheldron. If…if I can get some of that root, I…I can make you a tea that will help you sleep."
"And how is that exactly?"
"M'lady?"
"How exactly does this special root work? Is it a sedative? Is it some kind of drug?"
"I…I don't know about that." The girl fidgeted nervously, looking down. "I only know its effects, m'lady. My mother taught it to me, and she learned it from her mother, and from her mother before that."
Larewyn nodded, swallowing, and then set the cup aside. She narrowed her eyes as she looked at the servant girl. "All right then. At this point, I will try almost anything, I suppose. Look at me." K'Sana obeyed. "I warn you, child, that if I develop so much as a rash from your special tea, you will disappear and no one will miss you. I promise you that. Do you understand?"
"Y-yes, m'lady. I have no desire to bring you harm."
"Hhmmm, well, we'll see about that." Larewyn sighed, rubbing her temples.
K'Sana leaned forward. "How bad is the pain?"
Larewyn opened her eyes, surprised by the girl's question. "What do you care? Why are you so willing to help me, anyway? Why does it matter to you if I'm in pain?"
K'Sana blinked, confused. "You are my mistress. I am here to serve you."
Larewyn sighed, too exhausted to talk anymore. "Go," she said, waving the girl away. "I'll arrange for someone to get this…root in the morning."
"Yes, m'lady." K'Sana bowed and then slipped quietly from the room.
The lady empress shut off the lamp and laid back, staring into the dark. She was still awake when her mother came in to ask what she wanted for breakfast.
Chapter 17
____________________
( 1 )
She groaned and attempted to open HER EYES, but the pain was too much.
"Don't move." The voice came from above her, and something was thrust into her hands. "Drink this."
Varis' fingers curled around a cup with something warm inside. As the rest of her consciousness slowly returned, she realized she was sitting up. She forced her eyes open as she sipped the hot tea.
The room was mostly dark, the only light coming from a lamp on the desk. An ASD rested in the center of the illumination field, and a Ralorian woman sat just beyond that, watching her. J'Soran took another sip, and then wrapped both hands around the cup, nestling it in her lap. The two of them scrutinized one another in tense silence. There was only one window, and its privacy screen was activated, muffling the street noise outside. Behind Varis, laughter echoed from the hall beyond the closed door – a man and a woman probably – and then another door closed, cutting off the sound.
"Keep drinking," the other woman ordered. "You'll need your strength."
Varis didn't want to obey, but the tea was good, and her headache had diminished considerably in the last few minutes.
"Don't bother trying to activate your bio-net. It'll be a half hour at least before the sedative wears off."
Varis took another sip, scowling. "Who are you?"
"Is he really dead?"
"What?"
"Doctor Moru. Is he really dead?"
"Yes. Now answer my question."
The woman bowed her head, closing her eyes. "How did he die?" she whispered.
"Heart failure relating to a lifelong genetic defect. That was the official cause of death listed on Doctor Rosenberg's report."
The woman glanced up, nodding. "Exxar-One's CMO, yes."
J'Soran leaned forward to get a better look at her captor in the dim light. "I answered your question, now tell me your name."
"Shaundra." She walked to the window and touched a corner of the holographic privacy screen to open a hole so she could peer into the street.
"Is that a surname or a birth name?"
"It's all you need to know for now."
"I'm sorry for the bad news. How well did you know him?"
Shaundra didn't answer right away. "We were…colleagues," she said finally, and then cleared her throat.
"Who are you looking for? Who's after you?"
"It's not me, it's you." Shaundra faced Varis. "Doctor Reldun is dead. I was able to erase the footage containing your face from his building's surveillance system before local authorities got to it."
Varis' grip on the cup tightened, and her stomach knotted. "Damn," she muttered. "What about Vasik?"
Shaundra hesitated. "There was a blurb earlier on the news feed. An anteri had been attacked at the your hotel. No word yet on his condition." She paused once more. "Your face was then flashed on the screen. It's a good thing you registered under an alias."
J'Soran closed her eyes and muttered another curse. She attempted to stand, but a sudden wave of vertigo forced her back into the chair. She took a long sip of the tea and then set it on the desk. "All I wanted to know was why Doctor Moru ended up at Exxar-One and how exactly he died. I'm fairly certain he was murdered, I just can't prove it."
"You're right. You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into."
"We're still on Anjisald?"
"Yes. A few blocks from your hotel. I doubt they'll look for us here."
"Who's 'they'?"
"A man and a woman have been following you ever since you arrived in the home system. I've run their likenesses through my facial recognition database, but there was no match found. I assume they're
here for the same reason as you."
"And how do you fit into all of this? You said you were colleagues with Moru?"
"Not exactly." Shaundra returned to the window.
Varis drank the last of the tea and stood. "So who are you then?" she demanded.
"As I said, it's not important. I just saved your life. Right now, you need to wait until I can get you safely to a shuttleport. I assume you can use one of your aliases to book a ticket out of the home system."
"No!" Varis moved between Shaundra and the desk. "I'm not leaving here until I get some answers. What happened to Moru fifty years ago? What was he involved in?"
Shaundra turned away from the window. "Step back, brantar."
"Or what? You're going to shoot me again?"
Shaundra raised her weapon, its muzzle inches from Varis' chest. "If I have to, yes. But I'd rather not. It was difficult enough getting you into this room unconscious."
Varis sighed, frustrated, and backed away. She crossed her arms, watching her captor with a mixture of curiosity and anger. And then something occurred to her. "We need to get to Doctor M'Harri's house! Right now!" She turned and started for the door, but stopped short, stunned by the speed at which Shaundra moved to block her path. "Get out of my way!"
Shaundra pressed her gun against Varis' chest. "Sit. Down." Varis reluctantly obeyed. "Your face is all over the news feeds, brantar. You wouldn't make it to the nearest train stop, let alone Doctor M'Harri's house."
"If I've been followed this whole time, that means that her life is in danger!" Varis protested. "If I can't go, then you have to! You already know her address, right?"
"Yes," Shaundra sighed. "And I placed an anonymous tip with Prill's office three hours ago. After what happened to Doctor Reldun, I though it was prudent. The police are probably at her place right now." She paused, looking at Varis with a measured gaze. "What did she give you?"
"What?"
"She had something that Korik must have given her for safekeeping. A key code, a file, a data disc – what was it?"
"She didn't have anything."
"You're lying."
"Prove it."
"Your mother's name is Jishara Akren. Fifty years ago she was living on homeworld, in one of the Tonnd districts, barely scraping by each month on a standard wage. She answered an ad at a local interweb junction for a medical research project. That project was being supervised and directed by Doctor Korik Moru."
Varis stared at her, stunned. "Okay," she said, shaking her head in resignation. "Yes, Swyn gave me a list. Twelve names – all women. One of them was my mother: Jishara Akren. She knew Doctor Moru. I have a memory of her from when I was a child. She was at the comm, trying to get through to Moru's office. She was scared –"
"Yes, I'm sure she was. Your father was probably on his way home, drunk as usual, and your mother feared for her life."
Again, Varis could only stare, too astonished to speak.
Shaundra motioned to other chair as she sat. "I know a great deal about you, J'Soran. The letter 'J' at the front of your name, for example. As soon as you were old enough, you legally changed your birth name to add the initial. I assume it was for the memory of your mother. She died when you were eight years old. Your father came home, drunk, and the beating he gave your mother that night was particularly brutal. But she managed to stab him in the neck with a kitchen knife before she succumbed to her wounds, and he's currently is serving a life sentence in Durn Prison on homeworld. As far as I know, he still can't speak. The damage to his vocal chords was never repaired.
"You spent several years bouncing back and forth between foster homes before finally enlisting in the military at seventeen. You displayed an aptitude for special combat operations as well as covert tactics. You also excelled at the analytical sciences, which is probably what prompted FCI to recruit you immediately after graduation. You're currently a field operative, class three, stationed at Exxar-One. Have I left anything out?"
"You forgot about the dress my mother made me for my sixth birthday, and the pet chale that died when I was five," Varis replied darkly, shaking her head in disbelief as she sat. "Other than that, though, I'd say you've got a pretty thorough report on my life."
"I know all of that because Doctor Moru kept a detailed record of Jishara after she left the project."
"Yes, what exactly was that project? It was something to do with biogenetics, correct?"
Shaundra laid her gun on the desk, and then stared at it for several moments, lightly running her finger along its hilt.
Varis leaned back, watching her, and waiting patiently.
"I'm sorry," Shaundra said at last, looking at Varis. "I want to trust you, but the fact that you're an FCI agent is a bit troublesome for me."
"How so?"
The other woman hesitated once more, and then said, "Your mother and the other eleven women on that list were recruited fifty years ago – as was Doctor Moru – for a project that did involve genetics research."
"I've assumed as much from the evidence I've gathered thus far," Varis interrupted. "It was during the T'Cosh-Inon Wars. It was a military project, right? Sponsored by our government?"
"No, not ours. And none of the other worlds in the Confederacy either. From what we've gathered about Korik's time with this project, all evidence points to the Federation government. Beyond that, we haven't been able to determine exactly which organization funded this project."
"Who's 'we'?"
"I'm getting to that. After the project was over, the twelve women were released and paid a large sum of money for their contribution. However, Korik kept track of the women over the next few years, and that's probably why you remember her trying to screen him one night."
Varis frowned. "That explains something that I never understood when I was little. We lived in an upscale neighborhood, yet my mother never held a job, not even after she married my father. It also explains why he could squander his paycheck at the pubs and yet we never went into debt." She reached for the empty mug, turning it absently with one hand, lost in thought. "What exactly was it that these women were paid to do? What were the details of this project?"
"C'mon, brantar, haven't you already guessed?"
"They were impregnated," J'Soran replied after a few moments. "Doctor Moru was tasked with improving and enhancing current gene therapies."
"Exactly. Each woman gave birth to one child – six males and six females."
"You know this because you found records of this project?"
"Not quite." She paused, watching J'Soran, waiting for her to put the final pieces together.
"You're one of those children."
"Yes. I can't be absolutely certain, but, according to Korik's notes, Jishara is probably my mother too."
Varis stared at Shaundra, even more shocked than before. "I don't believe you."
"Because everyone is genetically enhanced these days?"
"No. A great deal of secrecy surrounded this project to ensure its security. Why would its sponsors let you and the others go just like that?"
"Excellent point. The truth is, when the project ended – and it did end quite abruptly – we all appeared to be twelve years old. Chronologically, however, we had only been born seven years earlier. Everything about us was enhanced – intelligence, physiology, reflexes, and appearance. Even the aging process was accelerated until we passed through the adolescent phase of development. That occurred after the project was over, when all of us were placed into foster homes. Doctor Moru, unfortunately, was not involved in that part. We were given fictional biographies to memorize in preparation for our new homes, and our foster parents reared us until we came of age. There were occasional visits from men in business suits who said they were from the Public Welfare department. However, after we came of age and left our foster homes, we were allowed to live whatever life we chose. Until recently, no one has ever tried to contact us, and, out of the twelve, only ten of us have been able to find one another."
"How?"
"It happened gradually over several years. There were certain…ads placed on specific interweb sites. Only in the last twenty years have all ten of us met face to face."
"Who are the two that are missing?"
"A man and a woman. And no, they are not the same pair that has been following you these last few days."
Varis shook her head in puzzlement as she stood and paced. "None of this makes any sense. Like you said, everyone is genetically enhanced in one way or another. There's a gene therapy for just about everything these days and most of them are fairly cheap and affordable. Why would some organization within the Federation government bother with a top secret genetics project only fifty years ago?"
"You're right," Shaundra nodded. "That's another aspect of all this that we've never been able to fully explain. Nor do we even know where the facility was located that served as home base for this project. We were never allowed outside the labs or the medical complex. When the project ended, they sedated us. The next thing we knew, we were waking up in a children's relocation center on homeworld. As far as we can tell, the only advantage my siblings have over the general public is our immune systems. None of us have ever been sick – not once. Not even so much as a seasonal allergy. Genetic science thus far has never been able to completely eradicate disease."
Varis paused in her tracks, staring at the wall screen for a minute or two. The blank surface reflected her scowling, weary image. She tapped the upper corner to activate the screen and then navigated to a local news feed. The female anchor was in mid-narration of a human interest story, and Varis muted the sound before scrolling through the day's top headlines. "Here it is. An update on the anteri who was attacked in a hotel. His condition has been upgraded to stable." She breathed a small sigh of relief. "I can't find anything yet about M'Harri." She turned to Shaundra. "If you’ve been trailing the man and woman who've been following me, then that means you knew I was at Swyn's home. You knew she was in danger after I left!"
