HASH: Human Alien Species Hybrid Page 7

  “I’ve no choice. My DNA map holds more information than you humans realize.”

  Em maneuvered to Dr. Stevens’ other side. “He’s right. It’s dangerous and deadly for them to clone Aric. They don’t have certain elements from our planet that would make the clone compassionate and obedient. Aric has to get that vial of blood and any other blood that the Institute might have.”

  “That’s impossible! That’s sixteen years of testing.” Dr. Stevens glanced from us back to Professor Ahern.

  “Then we destroy this place and everything in it.” Em flickered again.

  Aric stood up. “No, my ship is here. It’s the only way we can get back.”

  I stood, upset that he was so quick to think about leaving. “Get back where? You grew up here. This is where you belong.”

  Dr. Stevens stood. “We need a game plan. We can worry about the semantics of all of this later, but right now, if they capture either of you, they will kill you.”

  Aric stepped closer to me and pulled me into his arms. Comforted by this familiar place against his chest, I wasn’t sure what happened when I heard a shot ring out.

  All I know is that I watched Dr. Stevens body fly through the air and hit the wall hard, leaving a trail of blood as she slid down the wall to her butt on the ground.

  Slow motion. Everything moved so slow that I heard another bullet whiz past our heads and I heard Professor Ahern’s voice in contralto yell, “Cease fire! Cease fire. Tranquilizers only!”

  Aric already had me to the ground, was covering my body when a sharp-pointed tranquilizer hit the stuccoed wall.

  Aric’s voice was rugged and angry. I saw the metal on his arm flowing like a river of silver contained in the walls of his arms. I even heard him growl, but I was too scared to look up and see what was going on.

  I could hear Em next to Dr. Stevens, assessing her injuries and yelling them out to Aric. I looked up to see if Dr. Stevens was okay, but four more tranquilizer darts whizzed past our heads and stuck into various items, including boxes and crates.

  “Wait here,” Aric whispered in my ear.

  “Don’t go. Please,” I begged.

  Aric reached up and pulled a whole section of shelving over as effortlessly as if it were made of cardboard. Crates clattered to the ground in front of us, some of their contents spilling out, creating the closest thing to a barricade that we could get.

  In my panic, I crawled over to Dr. Stevens and grabbed her hand. She moved her head slowly to the side to look at me and she smiled, a slow forced smile. She had her right hand pressed down on her wound and dark blood was seeping through her fingers and spreading over her lab coat.

  “You’re hurt. You’re hurt bad. Do something, Em.”

  “What can I do? I can’t do anything.” Em kneeled beside Dr. Stevens on the other side.

  Dr. Stevens kept her eyes on me. “It’s okay,” she said, breathless, swallowing back tears and emotion. “I need you to listen to me.”

  “Okay.” I quickly glanced back to make sure Aric was okay and I could see he was grabbing those nasty darts out of the air and throwing them back at the guards with such force that a few guards were hit and were now on the ground. I returned my attention to Dr. Stevens.

  “Jade, you have to promise me you’ll do whatever you have to do to get out of here. When you do, you need to get to a small town called Rutherford. There’s a man there, a teacher by the name of Dieter Copeland. He’ll help you both.”

  “You’re talking…” I swallowed. “You’re talking like you won’t be coming with us.”

  “Do whatever you need to do, Jade.” Dr. Stevens closed her eyes. “And that includes leaving me behind, if you have to. Em, I know you can hear me. Can you get the door?”

  Em looked over at us. The tears in her eyes mirrored mine. I hadn’t known that she could cry. “I will try.”

  Dr. Stevens closed her eyes and with small catches in her breath, she didn’t say anything else.

  Em stared at Dr. Stevens and tried to run her hand over her forehead, but it went through her.

  I felt the panic in my throat grow thicker. “Em, the door!” I nearly yelled.

  Before Em took off, Professor Ahern had stopped her guards and called out to us, “Miriam, this is foolish. Are any of you hurt?”

  Dr. Stevens didn’t answer, so I had to. “Dr. Stevens has been shot. She’s hurt.”

  “Then let us help her, Jade. Let us come through there and get her to the medic.”

  Aric shook his head. He didn’t need to.

  “I might have lived all my life in one room, but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid,” I shouted back. “We’re not letting you through, just so you can hurt us more. We know your plans. We know it all.”

  “I’m trying to avoid hurting you. You heard me tell security to stop firing.”

  “If we die, the metal dies. You want us alive so you can rip it from us and use it on your clone once you’ve cloned Aric. I’ve read your computer files.”

  There was a pause, obviously, as Professor Ahern considered her options.

  “Yes, Startech wants the metal so we can research things that will help people, Jade. Imagine what it will do, if we can use metal that is smart in order to help those who have lost limbs and give them the chance to walk again, or hold their kids again. Imagine the good we can do for those who are dying because of some crippling disease.”

  “Why do you have to kill us to help others?”

  “Luck of the draw, Jade. Sacrifice yourself in order to help millions. It’s a beautiful thing. We’ve kept you safe here for all these years; don’t you think you should give back to the world?”

  Aric narrowed his eyes at me. “She’s trying to play on your human emotions. Block her out, Jade.”

  Professor Ahern took a step toward us. “How’s Miriam? She’s a great doctor and you’re letting her die. Do you think that kind of behavior warrants you to be saved as a person? People have compassion for those who have loved them and cared for them all these years. Where’s your human compassion?”

  I squeezed my eyes tight, trying to ignore her words, but they were maneuvering through my mind like a freight train and destroying my common sense and logic.

  “Let us help her, both of you. You can see that this escape attempt is over, so why draw it out when you’re hurting her by doing it?”

  Em snorted. “Can you believe her, talking to us like she’s our friend? Once I get that door open…” Her expression creased in concentration.

  Professor Ahern sighed. “We cannot allow you to get to the surface, Jade. Neither of you, but particularly not you. The security personnel will open fire again if you try it. I have no control over that.”

  “Because you’re all about trying to protect me and not just dissect me, right?”

  Aric was still trying to find a way out. He made his way to the back wall of the aisle. There was an air vent there, one of the large ones scattered throughout the storage area. He was looking at it thoughtfully.

  “I won’t lie to you, Jade. When I got here, I considered doing exactly that. I forgot that you are a young woman, as well as a test subject. But I have seen more of you since I got here, and I understand now why Dr. Stevens has been so eager to help you, even if she has gone about it in a…misguided way.”

  “Em,” Aric asked, hooking his fingers into the grill of the vent, “Can you get that door or not?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t think I have the power from here and they have something stopping me from moving away from Jade.”

  “Jade,” Professor Ahern said, and again she sounded oh-so-reasonable, “I want to protect you and Aric. We will find a way to remove the implants without hurting the two of you.”

  “Lies!”

  “If you go up to the surface, you will die. You’ll experience a technology overload in her nervous system and you won’t survive.”

  They’d told me the same thing so many times here. Yet, it was a lie. Wasn’t it? “Dr. Stevens
wouldn’t take me up there if that were going to happen. I’m as human as anyone else is. It’s not like I can’t breathe the air.”

  Professor Ahern’s voice changed volume as she changed position. She stepped into the aisle we were in, letting me see her. She didn’t have any security guards with her.

  “Dr. Stevens obviously decided that the risk was worth it in what she believed to be extreme circumstances, but the risk is still there, Jade. The device implanted into you wants to grow and connect exponentially. It wants power. Yet, that power comes at the expense of you, Jade. Your personality. Your existence.”

  Em appeared beside Professor Ahern, as if to scold her. “That is so not true. Why are we listening to this psycho, Jade? We should be opening the doors and getting out of here. Um…I’m going to need a bit more power to do that, though.”

  Professor Ahern went on. “The device is designed for use with alien creatures, not with humans. The Institute has always believed that you are not strong enough to fully control it, Jade. That it would obliterate you if it came to the surface. That is why it is necessary to contain you.”

  I shook my head. “You’re lying.”

  “Am I? Dr. Stevens’ files indicate that you see an avatar of the implant as some kind of twisted reflection of yourself.”

  This time, Em poked her in the chest. “Hey!”

  “Is it a reflection of you, though? Or have you merely grown to be a reflection of it? May I come over and help Dr. Stevens?”

  That question came seemingly out of nowhere and I nodded without thinking about it. I didn’t trust Professor Ahern, but if she was willing to help Dr. Stevens, I’d let her.

  Em didn’t seem anywhere near as happy. “What are we messing around for? We need to get out of here, Jade. Come on, I need your help to open the door. Just open yourself to me so I can do this.”

  “Why?” I couldn’t help thinking of what Professor Ahern had just said. “So you can control me?”

  “What? You’re listening to her now? Come on, Jade. I just want enough power to—”

  “What? Get out of here? Grow a little more? I’ve felt you changing on my back, Em. You never told me why.”

  Em shrugged. “I’m not sure. Look, if you don’t want to let me in, maybe I can connect with Aric’s metal so we can get free of this lunatic.”

  “No. Just listen to me for…ow!” I stopped as something sharp jabbed into me. I’d only turned my back on Professor Ahern for a second to argue with Em, but that seemed to have been plenty of time for her to pull a needle from the pocket of her coat, stick it in me, and press the plunger.

  I understood then.

  “Aric, run!”

  Aric looked like he might ignore me, but then he obviously saw the security guards pouring into the shelving aisle from both sides, their tranquilizer guns raised. He ripped the vent grill from the wall in a squeal of metal and dived through as I fell to my knees.

  I looked up at Professor Ahern. “What did you…?”

  “Just a sedative. Nothing that will harm Startech’s investment before we can get that implant out of you. I promise you though, Jade, in the unlikely event that you survive the operation, you’ll be free to go. It’s not like anyone would believe you.”

  “The doctor…” The words were hard to get out, slurring as Professor Ahern half-carried me.

  “Unfortunately, people might believe her. This is a pity, because she was brilliant in her own way. But this is meant to be a secret program, so if she can’t be trusted, we have to do what’s necessary.”

  Professor Ahern nodded to one of the security guards. “That wound will take a while to kill her. Speed things up, please, and then dispose of the body. I wouldn’t want things getting awkward with any of her more loyal employees. Contain and re-capture Aric.”

  I wanted to argue. I wanted to fight. As it was, I could barely walk. Professor Ahern and one of the guards had to carry me, my arms over both their shoulders. By the time I heard the gunshot from behind me, the sedative had taken hold and I was already falling down into blackness, far too deep to scream.

  Chapter Eight

  I faded in and out of blackness, voices around me coming through distorted, my occasional glimpses of the space around me tinted with a kaleidoscope of colors.

  Words blurred together in slow motion. I tried to focus, tried to stop them from taking me away, cradled in the arms of a security guard.

  Em flashed before me. When I saw her vibrant green eyes inches from my face, I felt a comfort that she was there. She leaned in further and whispered in my ear. It was clear as day and what she said made me grasp for her…to no avail.

  I’d imagined if she were real, her words would have been soft and warm as they floated into my ear. “I’m here with you. I’m always here with you, but Aric needs me right now. He needs help to navigate through the vents and I know you’d want me to help him.”

  “Don’t leave me,” my lips barely moved, the whisper was probably more of a moan or a mumble, but Em and I were connected and she heard me as clear as day.

  “I’m here. Close your eyes and we’ll fight this thing together.”

  I was tired. My eyelids were heavy and my body lethargic. I wanted to scream, but I also wanted to sleep and at that moment, sleep was winning the battle. I nodded to Em. She was my best friend and the sister I’d never had. She might have even been my conscience.

  I heard them. The guards were following Professor Ahern’s orders. I heard the panic in her voice when she yelled, “Get her to the lab quickly. The implant will start to fight the sedative soon.”

  Maybe I grinned. It felt like I did, but then, I had very little control over my body. Truthfully, it brought me pure joy to know that the implant, Em, would fight against the sedative. That might be why I was still semi-coherent.

  I knew exactly when the guard placed me on my side against the hard, cold surface of a lab table. He wasn’t gentle. He treated me like the test subject Startech said I was.

  My mouth was drooping and I could feel the drool run from the corner of my mouth and down my cheek. I think it mixed with the tears seeping from my eyes. I couldn’t move, talk, swallow and I could barely think, but the implant fought and I tried to help it fight by staying awake, by trying to remember my dream, my father’s adoring look toward my mother and her sweet echoing laugh.

  It was such a short memory that my mind took me through the years. My unyielding will to make the doctors proud of me, the lonely days when I’d counted the lines in the grout of the tile in my room. The nights I’d cried myself to sleep, my arms tightly wound around my body, pretending it was someone who loved me. All of it and I’d still ended up here. On this table. About to be dissected.

  My entire life was now on this hard table at the hands of someone named Startech, who didn’t know my name; they only knew my project name. They would rip the implant from my body and kill me in the process. And Startech would never look back.

  During our escape attempt, Startech had shot Dr. Stevens, the one woman who had loved me as I imagined a mother might have. Aric—the one guy who had kissed me, held me, and understood me—as maneuvering through a ventilation system in search of his blood, the notes, his ship, or anything that would tell him more about who he was and where he came from. Em would find him. I was sure of that.

  I tried to move and did. A little but.

  “We’ll need a stronger sedative if we want her to keep still.” I couldn’t place that voice. Just another scientist. Of course, right then, I could barely remember who I was.

  I could remember what I’d done, though. I’d hesitated. I’d been so scared, not of the guards or the guns, but simply of the outside world. Of Em. Of what might happen once we got out there. So scared that I’d let Professor Ahern do this rather than let Em join with me to open the doors.

  Professor Ahern’s voice floated down to me again. There were bright lights around me now, and the surface beneath me felt different. “The survival of the subject is n
ot the main priority. The removal of the implant is.”

  The implant. Always the implant. I’d hated it for so many years. Wanted to get rid of it. I’d had nightmares about it, night after night, unable to run from the moment where Aric’s mother had embedded that intruder inside of me. I’d treated Em like a sister, but I’d wanted to get rid of her. I hadn’t trusted her. I hadn’t even trusted myself.

  Now, I was on a table somewhere, and my survival wasn’t the main priority.

  “A stronger sedative might make it easier to remove the implant without damaging it.”

  “Do it then.”

  Suddenly, I was back in the car, the familiar conversation floating around me. The familiar sense of dread rising up through me.

  “Frank, what’s that?”

  The dream seemed to be speeding along this time. Normally, I had minutes in which to feel the fear building up. Instead, this time, I was already tumbling as the Cerens’ ship hit the surface, already climbing from the wreckage, looking for my parents. No, not looking for them. I knew I wouldn’t find them. I was looking for the injured woman.

  I found her, and again there was something wrong with the dream. She didn’t talk to me. Didn’t try to comfort me, the way she had before in my dreams of the past just before she had pressed the metal organism to my flesh.

  Instead, this time, she held the implant out in her hand, the metal forming a kind of swirling sphere that seemed to shift and glow with its own light. I took a step toward her.

  Pain shot through my back, sudden and agonizing. I took another step, and it only got worse. It felt like someone was peeling my flesh open, ripping through it, tearing it.

  I half sank to one knee, and the alien woman, Aric’s mother, just stayed there, holding the sphere. I knew what she wanted me to do. I knew what I had to do, but I wasn’t sure if I could.

  I crawled to her. I crawled because it hurt too much to walk. I crawled until I was close enough that I could have reached out and touched that steadily glowing sphere. I didn’t, though. I knew I had to, but I knew it would hurt when I did. I knew I would never be normal again if I did. Even with pain already shooting through me, I was afraid.