by Eden Wolfe
She did as told, silent, and cooperative. She walked to the anteroom and closed the door. Isaac looked at Sara, Sara looked at Adam. Adam watched the door as it clicked shut. They stood unmoving, listening to the shuffling behind the door, none of them ready to act. They looked at each other with a mix of fear and dread.
And then conviction.
It started with Adam who stood just a little taller, and that was the only signal they all needed. They looked at one another, rooted solidly to the ground and ready. This was the first critical moment.
The anteroom door creaked open. Adam, Sara, and Isaac turned to face Lucy, their shoulders collectively set and their eyes clear.
"I'm ready." Lucy kept her chin low. She looked even younger in the medical gown. She kept her hand resting on the lava stone around her neck.
Adam lowered his voice, casting a smile to the girl that was just right for the moment.
"Okay, great. Come lie down here. This will hurt, but it is necessary. You're going to have to endure this, Lucy. And then soon you’ll be ready to give birth. Are you ready?" He looked her in the eye, head tilted, an air of confidence and understanding.
The room stood still, and time seemed to have stopped; not one of the foursome dared to take a breath.
"Yes," Lucy whispered, and they broke her skin with the needles.
52
Aria
The two looked away from the window. Away from Archer’s body. His mad scrambling towards certain death nineteen floors below had never been their intent.
They rested against each other, backs to the window, arms touching. Quieting the squall in their minds. Ariane rested her head on the other one's shoulder for just a moment’s pause.
Archer's mad utterances as he had stumbled toward the window confirmed it for them. It was what they had believed to be true, for Archer took orders from only one master.
The chaos of the moment passed and they shifted back into shared strategy across their thoughts:
The Queen must be held to account.
We must find what we came for.
We will confront her with evidence.
Aria walked to the window facing the main square. The people below come into view, the fortress in the distance a black swatch against the grey sky. The Tower would soon be empty, the announcement having raised alarm across every floor. As soon as the Queen began to speak, they would have free reign. It was the richest possible opportunity to find any answers the Tower might hold.
A voice rang out on the loudspeaker.
This was their chance. They moved with the speed of a fox being hunted. Doors and corridors led them from answerless files to blank stares of half-aware guards. Anyone who mattered was at the briefing. The Tower was all but a tomb, even though just minutes before the bustle in its hallways had been constant.
Constructed as a series of circuits, the Tower was a maze. Ariane opened one door to find herself facing two more that led in opposite directions. They understood the math behind it and agreed their course wordlessly. The sensation within them, the communication, had become self-evident. The silent agreements came naturally. They glided, hips nearly touching, as they moved in perfect rhythm. They searched behind each corridor, lab, and office, into the vacated spaces.
They went through pages upon pages as the voices outside gained in volume.
These files are meaningless.
Variations on code for stronger gut flora, resilience to malaria, development of brain cell regeneration. But none of that mattered to them now.
They were looking for secrets.
Likely the files on royal gene development are not stored here.
Likely in the fortress.
Or with Lucius directly.
They turned a circuit and at once were hit by multiple voices, strained and nervous, off in the distance but in the Tower. They could hardly make sense of it. The voices came from a different floor, but the two easily followed the source of the sound. They moved quickly, but slow enough to take the safest route around the last few prying eyes.
Mary's eyes came alive outside on the screen, the light glaring into the Tower.
"To the square, all of Geb, the time has come for the Queen's briefing. This is a time for bravery and celebration of how far we have come. There is much to say. Find your way now before the Queen takes her place. Come, listen to today's announcement, for, People of Geb, all People of Lower Earth, today is a day that will be remembered! Make your way to the square!"
The two approached the door from which the strained voices emerged. The room was next to a stairwell that gave access to a sewer pipe; a most unlikely spot for a meeting. They listened.
"You need to relax. This won't be easy, but it won't be as bad as you think, either." A woman.
"Have you done it?" A young woman whispered.
"No, but I've witnessed it. And it's been designed, you've been designed. You specifically, Lucy, you have been equipped to do this better than anyone. Do you hear me? Look at me, keep your eyes open and your muscles pushing."
"Which muscles?"
"You'll know. Can you feel it?"
A scream from the young woman escaped the doorway.
"Shhhh. Sara, keep her quiet!" A man.
"It'll blend in with everyone going to the square, this is the perfect moment." Another man.
"Can't you give me something to make it easier?"
"Too risky."
"He means that a natural birth will be best for you and the - child."
"Oh - this is not what I expected."
"No one expects it, sweetie. You're doing just fine."
"Just keep your voice down, damn it."
"Give the kid a break."
"You give me a break, Adam. We've all got our necks on the line here."
"Why is this happening to me here? Why can't I be in the clinic?"
"Lucy, we explained, you are the beginning of something entirely new. This is so far an untold story."
"That doesn't even make sense!"
Something hit the door, like a body being flung. Aria and Ariane looked at each other, jumping to a new vantage point, just out of sight, in case the door opened.
And it did.
"That's it, I'm out of here."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know my leg would kick out like that."
"Lucy, you're fine. He should have stood further back."
A fat man waddled past, wiping his forehead, not noticing at all the two identical bodies clasping at the ceiling above him in the adjacent hall. He just walked by.
They craned their necks and saw a wreck of a room, sheets hanging on the walls in a pseudo hospital cube, a table in the middle with a young woman spread eagle, a baby's head just beginning to crest from her body.
"Shut the damn door, Adam!" The woman's voice hissed.
A man's hand reached out from the unseen, slamming it shut.
The sounds of birth continued. Aria and Ariane looked towards each other and moved back to the floor. They walked away in slow, measured steps, the scene of chaos behind the door no wiser to their presence.
They reached the center of the floor, the open landing that looked down and up the entire building, as the Queen's voice echoed on the speaker.
"My people, my children, my friends."
Ariane looked at Aria, searching her eyes, before jumping over the rail, falling the seven floors to the lobby.
"We have reached a new era in Lower Earth's history. And you will be a part of it."
Aria leaned over the rail to find her other self below, looking up to her. They nodded and agreed. Time to separate. They would find each other again when it was necessary. Ariane moved across the floor as if floating, an ear to the speaker, an ear to the door beyond the hall, and the life-giving underway behind it.
"You know of the campaign. You know of the threats we face. But soon, my friends, I will have news to share that will set our world alight with joy!"
The crowd erupted, but Aria's ears were
consumed by the gasp of first breath coming from behind that door. The cheers outside continued but Aria shared the thought with her other-self.
The child - the sound - it is not human.
'Hush, hush, child, please," Aria heard the voice of the woman consoling Lower Earth's youngest inhabitant. "Now Lucy, I have to go. And I have to take the child with me."
"But just a moment, please, let me hold my - "
"You have done something wonderful, but Lucy, you cannot see it. I can't allow you - "
The voice of the young mother lowered to a rasp. "What is that?"
"Lucy, you have to understand - "
She hissed even quieter, "What is that?"
The man's voice spoke, "Lucy, you have done something wonderful. You have given life to someone who will change the course of history. You have - "
"Get it away from me," Lucy's voice was barely audible to Aria. Barely more than a breath. "Get it away."
The child was silent, not so much as a whimper since its first moment on earth. Aria wished she could look beyond the door, but this was not the day, neither for her to see it, nor for her to be seen.
She ran the stairs to the roof of Central Tower with even more questions than when she came.
On the opposite side of the Tower from the crowds, Aria watched as a cat found Archer's body, and curled to sleep in the broken twist of his dead right arm.
53
Maeva
From the Queen's perching place on the balcony, a sound reached her ears that was barely more than a gasp. She waited, holding the quieting crowd in suspense as she tried to listen to whispered words down a passageway at the back of Central Tower.
54
Adam
The child lay silent but for the occasional breath in the box where Sara had placed it next to Lucy. Lucy continued to refuse to look. Adam had been present in multiple test births and he had never been shocked by the sight, but he couldn’t see the little body from where he stood.
They watched as Lucy redressed. She then walked out the door without looking back.
Pulling back the light muslin, Adam gasped. He then understood Lucy’s reaction.
"What is it? I don’t recognize it from the code.”
"It's beautiful, Adam. It's what we have."
There was no reference for this. Normal head and ears with some oversizing; facial shape that was just about right - something wrong with the eyes - but as soon as the torso came into view, the contortions were painful to look at, though the child seemed to be perfectly comfortable.
"We don't have long," Sara spoke through clenched teeth.
"Let's do what we must." Adam took a deep breath and forced his eyes to take it in.
This is what you created, Adam. Now look on the creature as you should.
Adam smiled and removed all covers. The child was quiet and patient. Curious.
They took the post-birth samples as quickly as possible, gathering them into a protected sack. True refrigeration would have to wait, they had to get out. Still, the child didn't make a sound, despite the syringes and grafts.
It was as if it understood.
There was no sampling protocol to cover their current subject, but they were nonetheless adept. Swabs of mouth, ears, and anus. Protected, tagged, sorted. Stem cells collected during birth, set aside, stored, tagged. The blood samples were the most extensive, as they did not know what to expect. They planned for all possibilities, drawing tissue from organs and muscles. Protected, tagged, sorted, stored. With each minute Adam's brow became damper and damper, his heartbeat accelerating. He felt like he was running a sprint but at the finish line was a gladiator pit. He again looked on the child's body.
"Move," Sara pushed him out of the way as he stood frozen. "We can do all the thinking we want later. Now we act. Lucius is waiting for us."
"Yes, later," but he didn't budge.
"Now!" Sara hissed. "You take the child, Adam. You take it in the sack. This is it." Sara's strapped everything to her body. All the samples, protected, tagged, and sorted, were stored against her abdomen, armpits, and ankles.
One last look at each other, and without further word Sara burst out the stairway door. Adam could hear her running down the first few floors of the east wing, while he remained.
Outside, the Queen's briefing was wrapping up in the traditional way, thought its message had been anything but traditional.
"The screens tell you all. They remain your friends. I too am your friend, your Queen. As ever, you know that I belong to you, even more than you to me. Be kind and be strong!"
This is it.
Looking at the quiet baby in his arms, who asked for nothing and had a look of gentle query on its face, Adam stepped out into the corridor, full of purpose, but breathing shallower than he wanted.
Just walk, Adam. Left, right, left, right. A normal day.
He held the bag open, not wanting to close in the newborn just yet. The baby looked into his eyes with a tender smile, or at least an expression of comfort. Adam had to take the internal stairwell. It was steep and deep into the heart of the building, but he couldn't see any other way to be sure none of the returning employees would catch sight of them.
Outside, cheers rose from the square. Even in the heart of the tower, Adam could hear them. He lowered himself down the escape ladder. Step by step, with each rung he inhaled, though he felt like he was never breathing out. He became light-headed.
"Damn," his foot slipped just a little on the edge of the rung.
Now is not the time to pass out.
With the baby strapped to his chest in the large duffel bag, he descended lower and lower. The weight of the child and his responsibility pulled him down, yanking at his lungs. He tried to focus his mind.
Just one step. Take only one step at a time.
The cool damp air of the basement swirled around him, and still, the newborn was silent. Adam looked at it with wonder. It looked right back, with equal wonder. Adam smiled. The baby stared and began to stir, the fabric of the sack cutting into its arms and sides, cutting off circulation.
"Shhh, shhh, now." Adam realized he was completely unequipped to coo a child. This had never been part of their plan.
Moving towards the fire door, Adam shifted the baby's body, adjusting it so the bag looked like any other bag someone would take to work. He moved the child to his side, farther from his core, trying to look natural.
A sound emerged from the sack. It was quiet, barely audible, but it was out of place. It was the only sound to emerge from the child since it first came into the world.
"Now, now, this isn't the time for that." Adam played with its little arms and tried to smile reassuringly. Stuffing the sheet around its body, he protected it as much as possible, knowing that as soon as he walked out the door, he had to pretend his bag was nothing more than a change of clothes. It would be a delicate balance to keep the child quiet as it bounced against his hip on the street. Adam wasn’t sure what to expect, but he put the thought aside, zipped the bag, stood tall, and walked out into the late morning sun.
Each step was a strain, but he tried to move with the appearance of confidence. The streets were near empty along the west end of the Tower, and he felt a sense of relief for it. He heard his breathing echoing in his head; his little precious package at his side remained unmoving but for the occasional shift or roll.
Now what?
Suddenly their planning seemed to fly from his mind. Everything felt different and new. Walking on, going through the same city streets he'd walked his whole life, he saw each corner with new eyes.
The turn onto the main strip was the hardest. His mind played tricks on him. People emerged from the square in vivid conversation. He thought each set of eyes was out to get him, or his bag. How could he possibly keep this living, breathing secret in front of them?
He froze in a moment of absolute paranoia, then jolted himself out of it.
You're a statistician, he told himself, ignore your f
eet and run the probabilities.
His steps fell into a rhythm; the panic subsided. His mind raced up and down the potentialities. No one was paying any attention to him. They were all engrossed in the aftermath of the Queen's announcement, anticipating what might come. He listened to their conversations as he passed.
"You really think we’re heading to war?"
"Such incredible discoveries!"
“We’re going to be fine.”
"Perhaps she's finally gotten Gana under control. You know they are mad out there."
A young woman brushed past him, gently knocking the bag.
"Oh, sorry," she said and carried on, but the baby began to shift and, in a low rumble, emit a sound that didn’t belong on the street.
Adam swiftly stepped into a recessed doorway and unzipped the bag.
"Shhhh, quiet now, this is it, we're almost there," facing the door, he prayed they all just keep walking by. He put his hand inside the bag to gently stroke the child's body, but he felt the disturbance, the strange twisting, and jerked his hand away. The child noticed and began again breathing quickly, warning of more sound to come.
"Shhhhh, no, no, shhhh." Adam urgently tried to comfort it. He stroked it, putting aside his judgment; after all, he had been its savior. It should have been terminated long before this. But here they were. Looking at the generosity in its eyes, Adam knew he was right to believe. This would be the child that would change their course of history.
Little by little the child settled.
Slowly Adam stepped out from the door frame, glancing left and right, and walked to the next alleyway, trying to keep the bag immobile. He had to get off the streets where people were bustling about. The risks were too great.
He turned the corner into the alley and allowed his eyes to shut for just a moment. The fear was overcoming his ability to see.
