“What is the matter with you?” I say under my breath.
He shrugs his shoulders. “What did I do this time, Tick?”
“Don’t ever call me that again.”
“Is that one more of your orders?”
“Yes. Now leave me alone.”
He obeys for now and moves back to his spot between Doc and Zoe. I see Pip laughing with
Tilly and Scout. Rabbit’s right, these three have formed a circle of friendship all their own. A triangle of friendship, in Rabbit’s words.
I pull my fingers one by one until they snap. Then, as my frustration overpowers me, I call Pip
over.
“Pip,” I whisper, “you don’t have to tell people everything you know.”
Pip is confused. “What do you mean, Freya?”
“I mean like the other day when you told Damian why Finn called me Tick. That was something
between Finn and me and you shouldn’t have said anything about it.”
Now Pip is even more confused. “Why?” she says. “Aren’t we all a family here?”
“Yes, we are. But even families have secrets. Especially families.”
“I’m sorry,” she says, “I have so much to learn.”
“Oh, Pip, no, you don’t. I’m sorry, you didn’t do anything wrong,” I say and I feel my cheeks go
red. How could I have accused Pip of anything? She’s the kindest, brightest person I have known and
she has helped me become a better person, too.
I get up to go to my tent. I need to try and put my head in order.
Zoe stops me. “I have a question for you,” she says.
“What is it?”
“That Sliman, Wudak,” she starts, “has had his eyes on you all night. Are you sure he can be
trusted?”
“You mean he’s been watching me?”
“Like a hawk. Every time your face is turned away, he watches you. Every time you close your
eyes, he watches you. Every time you talk, his eyes are on you. I think that’s why he chose to sit
behind you. So that he could watch you without you knowing.”
“I caught him looking at me a couple times,” I say. “I just didn’t realize it was constant.”
“He’s making me nervous,” Zoe says. “Keep an eye on him.”
“I will. But, honestly, can I tell you something? Something that you may not repeat?”
Zoe nods.
“I think he somehow cares for me. I don’t know why, but I think all he wants to do is watch over
me.”
Zoe is not convinced. “If Daphne were here, she’d see right through him.”
“I know. For now, all I have to go by is my instinct.”
So, one more thing to worry about, I think as I walk to my tent. I step in and almost let a scream out. There’s a shadow inside the tent and when my initial shock fades, I realize it’s Damian.
“What on earth, Damian? When did you get here?” I say as I light a candle.
“A couple minutes before you.”
“While I was talking to Zoe.”
“Yes.”
“What do you want now?” My tone is irritated and abrupt but it doesn’t seem to bother him.
He’s getting used to it. He might even welcome the challenge. I have created a nightmare.
“I don’t like the way we’ve been acting,” he says. “I came to apologize. Let’s start all over.”
“Again.”
“Yes, again. Why not?”
“Okay, sure. But you have to promise, no more kissing and no more Tick for you.”
He doesn’t like where this is going. It remains to be seen whether what he has just said about
turning a new leaf is true or not. I have to push him a bit if I am to know if I can trust his words.
“Are you sure that’s what you want?” is all he says in the end.
I nod. What can I say to him? That I don’t know what I want? That I am confused beyond belief?
To him that would sound encouraging and I don’t want to do that.
“Don’t you want to see if this could work?” he asks.
“I don’t need to see, I know it wouldn’t work. And if you were being honest with yourself, you’d
know it too. We are not compatible in any sense of the word. We don’t belong together, Damian.
Besides, there’s so much at stake. This is hardly the time.”
He sits down and I think I’ve gotten through to him to some extent. I don’t see any red on his
face, his veins are calm and he hasn’t attempted to grab me.
“You don’t owe Finn any loyalty,” he says.
“It’s not about that, Damian.”
“As a matter of fact, you shouldn’t trust him blindly. He’s not as spotless as you think.”
I spoke too soon. He hasn’t given up, he doesn’t know how to lose, he needs to be in control all
the time and I cannot afford to forget that.
“Just go, Damian. Get out.”
“He will lie to you. Again and again. He’s really good at it.”
“Get out already!”
“How can you trust a guy who risks the lives of his companions on a whim?”
“And how can I trust a guy who badmouths his friends behind their backs? Even Wudak told me
to be careful with you.”
“Oh, so you’re going to take the word of a Sliman over mine?”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this isn’t going according to your plan. I’m getting madder
at you by the second.”
He does his best to compose himself. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I will do my best not to upset you
again.”
He steps out and I should feel relieved but I don’t. Instead, I just feel an ocean of emptiness. I
lay back in my small tent tired and alone.
6
There’s the distant sound of running water, the smell of lilies in bloom, but the dark is absolute.
I can’t see anything. Then the ground shakes and I have to hold on to something. A hand. A hand that I can trust. I hold on tight but the hand starts quivering and I lose my balance. I start to fall and I hear my name repeated several times. I open my eyes. The light hurts so I rub them a few times. Finn is
bending over me. His face is concerned.
“What’s going on?” I say.
“It’s late, you’ve slept in.”
I look around the tent. It’s neatly organized, Pip’s bed is made, the table is clean and my water
bottle full.
“Where’s Pip?” I say.
“She’s up already. She didn’t have the heart to wake you.”
“I didn’t sleep well. I’m sorry, I had no idea it was that late.”
“The Sliman have to go. They need to talk to you first.”
“You mean they’re waiting for me?”
Finn nods.
“Okay, give me a second and I’ll be ready.”
I make a move to get out of bed but then I remember I don’t have any clothes on. It felt so hot last
night, I couldn’t tolerate anything on me.
“Turn the other way,” I order him.
“What?” he says but then he gets it. “I’ll wait outside,” he says.
You can do this, I tell myself as I jump out of bed and put my pants and shirt on. It’s been months since the last time I found new clothes. It’s been months since I’ve been to Lost Town.
I brush my hair with long strokes. I’ll have to ask Nya to shorten it a bit, she’s really good at
giving haircuts. I gulp down some water and pour the rest in the bottle all over my face. I pat myself dry with a towel and put some cream on my face, the one that Zoe says is supposed to make your skin
glow. I don’t know why I care so much about my appearance today.
Finn puts his touchpad in his pocket when he sees me. We walk to Damian’s te
nt which is the
largest in the camp. I notice that besides Damian and the Sliman, only Zoe, Doc and Theo are present.
This is a meeting for the oldest six as we call ourselves. Nya is only months younger than Theo, but
she prefers not to participate. She’d rather practice than talk, is what she says.
The Sliman sit on the floor but rise when they see me as if I’m a general.
“Are you sick?” Wudak says looking into my eyes.
“No, what gave you that idea?”
“You’re late. We’ve waited for you for over an hour.”
“I’m sorry, I just slept in.”
We all sit down on the floor. The three chairs in the tent wouldn’t be enough. Six Saviors versus
three Sliman. That’s a first.
“We have to go,” Wudak begins. “We have to be back at our posts by tonight. Our allies in the
Regiment will not be able to cover for us longer than that. We’re supposed to have been on a scouting
mission this whole time.”
It dawns on me that they are risking their lives to be here. And I have made them wait
unnecessarily.
“You said yesterday that you will not come back,” I try to speed things up.
“We will come back. To get you,” Wudak says. “We’ll take you to a safe place, a place where
the drones will not be able to locate you.”
“I don’t know if that’s possible, I can’t leave my friends behind. And I don’t know if I trust you
to that degree,” I say.
“Maybe if I explain to you what you are, you will see things more clearly,” Wudak says.
I nod. Zoe pats me on the shoulder. We both know this is not going to be pleasant.
“The aliens have altered parts of your DNA, that goes for all of you,” Wudak starts. “Before you
were even born. That’s why you all have special strengths that distinctly separate you from each
other. You’re all results of different experiments.”
“As are we,” Gritu adds.
“We have suspected this much,” Doc says.
“Not all experiments are successful,” Wudak goes on. “Most children show no special abilities
and some children get sick and die. A few, like the twelve of you, thrive and grow to be
superhumans.”
“Yes, but I don’t understand. Why would the aliens do that?” Doc says.
“Because they’re after one particular mutation,” Wudak says and glances at me.
“Freya’s,” Finn says.
“Yes, Freya’s. As far as we know, you are the only one.”
“They want me to use the receptors for them?” Ι ask, still trying to take all this information in.
“Will they experiment on me to see what I can do with them now that they cannot use them adequately
themselves?”
“No, that’s not it.”
“What then”?
Wudak is having trouble saying the next words. He shakes his head and looks at his companions
for reassurance.
“Freya, you are an alien bride.”
“What does that even mean?” Finn says.
“It means her genetic makeup is compatible with that of the aliens,” Doc says out of breath.
“None of this makes sense,” I say. “Are you telling me that I’m not human?”
“You are human, but you also have mutated genes and that means that the genotype of your cells
includes certain attributes that are needed for…”
“For what?” Zoe says.
I start feeling nauseous.
“The aliens have been getting weak for many decades now. You have seen this. They are
decaying fast. There are only a few thousand of them left as far as we know. Their superior
technology and medical advancements are the only things that keep them afloat. All of them are male.
The females have died. Whatever it is that happened to them, it hit the females first. The aliens cannot procreate anymore. Not unless they find a suitable host that can carry their embryos to term and save
their species.”
“They want me to carry their embryos for them?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
“Yes. They can clone their cells, but they cannot have the embryos grow in the labs. They have
tried it, but it fails every time. They need a host for them. Which is where you come in. Your nervous and immune systems, your chromosomes and things I don’t understand about your genetics, must be
what they’ve been waiting for all this time.”
“That’s why they didn’t want to risk killing me.”
“Kill you? They don’t want to kill you. They have been trying to make you for many years. They
are getting old. You are the only hope for their species.”
“They just want to use me for breeding?”
“Yes. And now that they know that it can be done, they will do it again and again. All they need
is your number, so they know what specimen you are, then will replicate it. They will mutate every
little girl the same way. Most of them will die. If we hadn’t erased your data, they would already
know.”
I instinctively reach for the tattoo on the back of my neck. This is far worse than anything I could
have imagined.
“Do you understand how important it is that you stay safe?” Wudak asks. “A lot of children will
suffer if you’re caught, not just you.”
“And those creatures will cover your earth like a plague,” Gritu says, “It will be their planet and
then they will eliminate human and Sliman alike.”
“If they never find you, they will eventually die out,” Wudak says. “They left their planet
because they thought the atmosphere was what was weakening them, because they destroyed it
somehow. But now every planet they have invaded rejects them after a few years. They can live long
lives, at least three centuries, but they’re running out of time.”
“Where are you going to take me?”
“We have an underground base. You can stay there until you’re strong enough to fight them.
We’ll train you, we’ll show you what you can do with the sensory receptor device. We’ll serve you
and we’ll be loyal to you throughout this entire war. In exchange, we want our freedom and Omicron
5.”
It’s a fair request. Between Doc and me we could probably do it.
“We don’t get separated,” Damian says. “The Saviors stay together.”
“We understand. You can all join us,” Wudak says with his head lowered. “You will be safe
and you can enjoy all that we have to offer.”
*
IT IS DECIDED that we will go with the Sliman. When they return in two days, they will lead
us to their underground base. We will have to travel through our very own woods to get there. It will
not only be a journey into the future, it will also be a trip through our past.
Finn sits next to me on the riverside. Our feet are dipped in the cool water. It’s a small river,
more like a creek actually, but there’s plenty of small fish in it and they tickle our toes.
“I don’t know how I’m going to tell Shy Boy that we’re going,” I say.
“He will be fine,” Finn says. “He’ll spend more time with his own kind, that’s good for him.”
“Pip will miss him.”
“We’re doing this for him as well. For every living thing that ever had to suffer at the hands of
the aliens.”
I kick my feet in the water. The water splashes on our legs and laps.
“Do you see me differently now?” I ask without looking at him.
“Differently how?”
“Now that
you know I’m part alien.”
“You silly girl,” he says and hugs me. “We all are.”
I look at his dark hair, his bluish green eyes and the love I feel for him almost takes my breath
away. I could kiss him, I could let him know that I am his now and forever, but it’s probably too late for things like that, or maybe too soon. The truth is I don’t know what Finn wants. I could ask him but I am afraid to lose the thing we have already.
Yet, it feels like it would be the right thing if Finn and I ended up together. Everybody seems to
think so according to Tilly. We know each other so well, we share so much love and trust, and there
have been a few, fleeting moments when I felt him moving closer to me. I felt as though these same
questions were about to form on his lips, but we are either interrupted or one of us chickens out.
Maybe it would be better to wait until the situation with the Sliman is sorted out. I don’t know if
that matters. Is there ever going to be an absolutely appropriate time for such a risky conversation?
Besides, according to the movies I’ve seen in Lost Town, there’s no need for conversation. A
moment will arise that overwhelms us and our lonely hearts will melt into a kiss. Or something like
that. So far, no signs show that Finn is looking for that moment with me. Damian surely does. His
signs have all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
I take my feet out of the water and escape his embrace.
“What’s up?” Finn says.
“Nothing, I forgot I told Pip I would be back by now,” I say as I put my boots on.
“Okay. I’ll come with you.”
“No. I want to walk back alone. I need time to think. I haven’t come to terms with my alien
genetics.” That’s not the truth and I hate lying to Finn. Truth is I want to walk Damian out of my mind if I have to walk for three straight days.
Finn lies down on the riverbank and closes his eyes. I wonder what thoughts occupy his mind.
Or maybe he’s not thinking at all. Maybe he’s connecting with the roots of his being as he has told me before. He is so peaceful and in touch with himself, I feel envious.
I kneel down next to his right ear. “Finn, you’re the man every girl dreams about in the old
stories,” I whisper out of the blue before I walk away.
7
Tilly hands out cookies from a straw basket. There are vanilla, sugar and raspberry varieties.
[scifan] plantation - books one to three Page 18
