Chapter Six
I sat in my room and waited. There wasn’t much else I could do. Even Em was being quiet, sitting over by the wall and barely acknowledging my existence. She was obviously still upset with me for telling Dr. Stevens that Aric and I were planning to escape.
In all honesty, it wasn’t a bright idea. I knew that now, but I was angry when I’d lashed out and told Dr. Stevens of our plans.
Things had changed drastically since Startech had taken over two weeks ago. My tutor had stopped coming and my college education was no longer at the forefront of their plans.
Professor Ahern wanted to push Aric and I together, create some atmosphere that would spark a love interest without actually knowing if we’d be interested in each other. I guess she figured we’d experienced no one else, so putting us together was the first step.
While Em sifted through the data stored on the institution’s hard drive, she claimed to have found highly confidential stuff. She was angry with me now, so she’d decided not to tell me, but I knew she wouldn’t be able to keep it to herself for too long. Em was like me—neither of us could keep a secret.
I sat down against the wall next to Em in hopes that we could discuss the situation. The image of her flickered to the far wall as she stood with her back toward me.
“Em, stop that. I want to talk to you.”
She sighed and flickered back into place next to me. “What?”
“I’m sorry.”
“You should be. It isn’t just your life at stake here.”
I nodded. Em was right, I really shouldn’t have told Dr. Stevens what we had planned. “I was angry and I was out of line, but ignoring me only makes me feel worse.”
“I’m sure it does.”
I sighed. “There’s so many changes going on right now, I don’t know what to believe.”
“You need to believe what I tell you and show you, Jade. I’m not your enemy. I need you to survive.”
“Okay.”
“Good, because I have something important to tell you. Something I found out.”
“What now?”
“Startech is giving you and Aric two weeks to form some kind of a sexual union and conceive a child.”
“Two weeks?”
“If they don’t see progress, their next move is to artificially inseminate you.”
“What?! They wouldn’t! They couldn’t.”
“They will, Jade. You think you can handle knowing their entire agenda?”
I swallowed hard and wondered if I could. How could I not know? Why would I leave the fate of my life in their hands when Startech only wanted to destroy me? “Go ahead.”
“When a Ceren being is about to die, they can transfer their organism to another. It’s the way that their memories stay alive and in some odd way, a way that they can live on. Aric’s mother gave you her royal memories, her organism and because she died without it, they dissected her and learned about how it attached to the nervous system of its host.”
“When you say it, we’re talking about you, right, Em?”
“I suppose. My knowledge is limited, but the scientist at this facility and the ones that were part of the HAP project documented everything. What they know, I now know.”
“Okay, go on.”
“There was an explosion on board the ship, something malfunctioned and when Aric’s father went back to the control room, he was caught in a fire that…well…killed him. When the metal is without a host, it attaches to and seeps into anything else metal.”
“Okay.”
“So, his organism attached to the ship and seeped into the control panels.”
“How would this Institute know all of this?”
“In another part of this facility is the actual ship and they’ve spent sixteen years dissecting it piece by piece, swarf by swarf.”
“They found his father’s organism?”
She shook her head. “What they found out is that the ship won’t run unless an organism attached to its host is present and at the control panel.”
“So, why haven’t they made Aric or I do it?”
“You’re too old, too dangerous, too curious, too strong.”
“I’m not! Maybe Aric is.”
“They would never reconnect Aric to his aircraft because they know he’d be stronger than anything they could handle.”
“So, why do they want a baby?”
“In their research, they discovered that Aric is royalty and they believed that if they could combine those three organisms together—”
“Three?”
“Aric’s, his mother’s and his father’s… then they’ll be able to create a super weapon.”
I stood up and pressed my two fingers against my temples. “I don’t get it.”
Em stood beside me. “Jade, you’re going to be artificially inseminated, deliver a baby and they’re going to kill you and Aric. They will remove the organisms from you both and insert them into the baby.”
“If we’re dead, then the metal dies.”
She tilted her head and lowered her eyes, realizing that I would finally understand what she was saying.
“Oh my gawd, they’re going to remove the metal while we’re still alive. This can’t be.”
“I read it earlier. The procedures, the plans, the doctors and scientists who will be there.”
“What about Aric’s father’s metal? It’s with the ship.”
“They already know how to regulate it.”
I began to pace. This was too much information to take in all at once. Suddenly, I felt a sense of urgency in getting out of the institution. My room felt like a 5 x 5 box and I was suffocating without any oxygen.
“Slow your breathing, Jade.”
“We have to get out of here.”
“It’s easier said than done. I realized earlier when you were talking to Dr. Stevens that Startech isn’t going to give us up. They want me too badly and they’ll stop at nothing to make sure that they connect all three organisms in one living host.”
I held my chest, finding it hard to breathe. I leaned over, and opened and closed my eyes. The room was spinning and I felt like I was going to faint. “We have to warn Aric.”
“I already did. He has all this information.”
“You’re smart, why didn’t you know all of this, prior to being able to float through the systems?” I asked, now sitting on the cot and rocking back and forth.
“I’m designed to link in with a Ceren royal. To do whatever they say. I wasn’t designed to grow up with a human girl. Maybe this is all I can be with you. It would explain why I’ve been stronger since we first touched Aric. Since that door to him was opened.”
“So, every time I touch Aric…”
Em nodded. “I get a little more knowledge each time. I become a little more me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, in theory, I should be able to connect with any machine in reach, make it do what I want. But it’s a bit hit or miss right now. When you touch Aric, I keep evolving into my full potential.”
The door to my room opened. I jumped, startled. The entire Institute was now my enemy and anyone who entered my room would be considered as such.
I looked over, half expecting a collection of security guards there to drag me off to whatever fate I’d earned by talking about escape. Instead, it was Dr. Stevens and a couple of junior scientists looking at her in obvious puzzlement. They clearly hadn’t been expecting her to show up like this. Neither had I.
“Dr. Stevens?” I said. “What are you doing here?”
By that I meant: was she about to have me killed?
Dr. Stevens held out a hand to me. “I need you to come with me, Jade. It’s about what we discussed earlier. I think it’s time to try putting that into effect, if you’d still like to.”
What I was talking about earlier…it took me a moment to realize that Dr. Stevens was talking about escaping. She was going to help me to escape.
When I h
esitated, she said, “Aric is going to be joining us in a minute.” If Dr. Stevens was nervous at the thought of breaking me out of her own facility, she didn’t show it.
However, I was nervous.
“Now?” I whispered.
“This is quite time sensitive. Professor Ahern will be back from a meeting with our employers soon, and I’m sure after that she’ll want you available for her own work.”
That was one way of putting it. For a moment, I stood there stunned that Dr. Stevens was doing this. Then I realized that I had to make this look as normal as possible. I reached out and took Dr. Stevens’ hand.
“Doctor?” one of the watching junior scientists insisted, “This isn’t logged in on the schedule.”
“I know that, Andrew. You may have noticed that since the Startech takeover, the schedules have been a little confused. I’m just trying to make the most of a gap in them. If you want to come along and observe…”
“No, that’s all right. This is your project.”
She smiled. “It’s nice to know someone here still thinks that.”
She led us away from the lab and my room. I followed, and Em went with us, flickering in and out, as she reached for the machines around us and sucked in information as we went.
Aric was waiting for us at the end of the next corridor, flanked by a lab assistant and a couple of security guards. Dr. Stevens dismissed them, and it was amazing that they just walked away, leaving the three of us to walk around as we pleased. Then again, I guess the way they saw it, Dr. Stevens had everything under control. And for a long time, she had been in charge of me. Solely.
I hoped she had everything under control.
As soon as we were alone, Aric wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close, his lips brushing mine.
“Aric…Em told you?”
“Yes, I know everything and Startech won’t get away with this. Once we get out and you’re safe, I’m going to return and claim what’s mine…what belongs to my family,” he whispered in my ear.
“They’ll kill you. If you come back, I want to come back with you and help you reclaim your ship.”
“Jade, we’ll talk about breaking back in later, right now, let’s try to break out. Okay?” He grinned.
I smiled weakly at his attempt to make me laugh. Em flickered beside us, in and out.
Dr. Stevens shook her head. “Perhaps we should save the excitement until we’re out of here? I can’t risk taking you out of the front door, and even I can’t talk you past the guards, but there are emergency exits around the Institute, for fires, or cave-ins, or anything like that. There are strict regulations when you’re this far underground.”
“We’re underground?” It occurred to me that I didn’t even know the most basic things about the place I’d lived for so long.
“I showed you the plans,” Em pointed out. “Where did you think we were?”
“I thought it was just a building.”
Dr. Stevens shook her head. “We found that an underground location was the most effective for containing the implant. It seemed…stronger, with more outside signal to work with.” She sighed. “Jade, I’m so sorry. We robbed you of so much. Come on. There isn’t much time.”
She led the way down corridor after corridor, into parts of the Institute I hadn’t seen before. I’d seen so little of everything, when I really thought about it. Aric kept close beside me, obviously as excited as I was, though wary, too. There was something almost dangerous about him as he looked around for any sign of trouble, the living metal of his implants catching the light.
Only Em seemed unworried, and that was just…well, Em. She didn’t have a tangible body and maybe she was less careful than me.
She danced a few steps on ahead. “I think I know where we’re going. I was going to get us out this way, although I wouldn’t have gone by a direct route like this. Miriam has guts, I’ll give her that.”
Em had a point. When I’d thought about escaping, I’d imagined us having to run and hide, ducking into doorways every time we heard footsteps, maybe fighting our way past security. Not this. Not just walking casually, like nothing was wrong.
“The exit is through one of the main storerooms,” Dr. Stevens said, jerking me from my thoughts. “I’ve parked a vehicle near the exit, so once we get to ground level, it should be possible to get you clear. After that…honestly, I don’t really know what we’re going to do after that.”
We made it to a big set of double doors with an electronic lock. They were obviously for the storeroom Dr. Stevens had in mind. There was also a security guard standing in front of them. He didn’t look any different to the others, just an ordinary guy in a dark uniform, with a utility vest and a weapon holstered by his side. Exactly what I expected a person to look like when they weren’t wearing a white coat, in other words. Yet, something about his stance said that this one might be trouble.
Dr. Stevens walked over as confidently as she had for the rest of our trip, though. “Hi, Justin. I need access to the storeroom. Open up for me, would you?”
He looked at me, then at Aric. “Are you sure, ma’am? I thought this was meant to be off-limits for the subjects. The outside access and all…”
“It’s fine, Justin. I don’t think Jade is exactly about to run off. But I do need a large open space, and the storeroom is the best we have.”
“This is for an experiment, ma’am?”
“Exactly.”
“So, you’ll have put in the paperwork and all that? If I just check…”
Aric was fast. Almost faster than I could believe. Strong, too. His fist only swung around once, and then the guard was on the ground. He was still breathing, but for a moment or two, it was difficult to be sure.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Dr. Stevens insisted.
“Yes, he did.” Em looked rapt. “That was amazing.”
I looked from one to the other of them, then at Aric. He hadn’t ever looked quite as alien as in that moment. I shook my head. “We need to get out of here.”
“Yes, of course.” Dr. Stevens still looked a little rattled as she used her security card on the electronic reader. I could understand the feeling. I had the excitement of potential freedom bubbling through me, but I wasn’t enjoying this violence the way Em seemed to be enjoying it. I wasn’t ready to hurt people like Aric just had. Suddenly, this all seemed very real.
The doors slid back with a slow, silent grind of hydraulics. We stepped through them, into probably the largest space I’d ever been in. I could barely see the far walls, while the space in between was filled with row after row of crates. Supplies, materials for experiments, or things they’d taken from ships like the one Aric had arrived on, I didn’t know.
There were air vents at regular intervals along the walls. At the far end, where Dr. Stevens led us, there was a semicircular section protruding from the wall. A tube leading up, with doors at the bottom locked by another electronic system, this time connected to a keypad. Dr. Stevens punched in a number.
Nothing happened.
She tapped it in again. Still nothing. I saw her hands slap down at the keypad.
“Someone has changed the code.”
“Ah.”
Even from that one syllable, I recognized the voice. Professor Ahern stepped out from behind one of the nearby shelves, accompanied by half a dozen security guards with Startech logos on their shirts. All of them had their guns drawn. “I’m afraid that would be me.”
Chapter Seven
We were caught and I was scared. I didn’t know if we should run or surrender and after two seconds, I didn’t have a choice. Aric grabbed both Dr. Stevens and me by the arms and dragged us back in the direction of the nearest shelving.
Em stood with her hands on her hips as if she’d stand between Professor Ahern and us. But, of course, neither Professor Ahern nor her puppets could see Em’s stance of bravery.
“Are you actually going to try and outrun us?” The sarcasm in Professor Ahern’s voice
was all but oozing.
“They’re children. Let them go.” Dr. Stevens kneeled down next to us from a location where we could see over a few boxes directly at Startech’s goons.
“They are not people, Stevens! They are extraterrestrial beings that could cause havoc if they’re released into the world.”
“Jade is human!”
“Jade is contaminated! And you’re aiding and abetting which might be considered treason by the government, should this attempted escape action leak out past Startech.”
Dr. Stevens glanced at Aric and me and then focused back on Professor Ahern. “This is inhumane.”
“There you go with that humane stuff again. You’ve let your emotions become vested in a project, Stevens. You’re destroying your credentials and career because of two subjects that should have been terminated long ago. We don’t need them anymore and knowing that, you’re willing to throw away everything?”
Em now flickered near us, her hands on her hips. “Hey, what does she mean she doesn’t need us? I thought they wanted you two for breeding.”
My heart was racing and my eyes wide when I responded to Em. “Yeah, you showed me the emails and documents that said they needed us to have a baby?”
Em shrugged.
Dr. Stevens reached over and grabbed my arm. “Jade, Startech had a breakthrough last night. They were able to find a way to clone Aric using his DNA and so, they don’t need you two. The only thing they need is the metal from your back and the metal from Aric. I read the email just after you left my office. This is why I thought I should get you out today.”
“They’re not taking either one of us,” Aric said.
“So, what’s it going to be, Stevens?” Professor Ahern yelled out. “You want to come out and do this the peaceful way, or are we going in there to get the subjects that Startech paid good money for?”
“Doctor?” Aric said. “Where’s the vial of my blood? Where is the room where they discovered they could clone me?”
“It’s on the other side of the facility. It’s under maximum security and lockdown. You’ll never get it.”
HASH: Human Alien Species Hybrid Page 6
