Charged - Book One (12 page)

“And what about the technology you have now?” It was
apparent that I thought it should be shared.

“It became clear a long time ago that we shouldn’t
participate anymore with humans.”

I couldn’t contain myself to call out a lie when I
saw it, “really?” I said, looking at Kye. “Kye appears to be more
human than alien and I’d say about twenty years old. So exactly how
long have you not been participating?”

Kye swallowed and her eyes wouldn’t meet mine from
across the table. Danel closed the box in the center of the table
by tapping the hologram once. He sat upright and looked me directly
in the eyes in a possessive way.

Gentle creature, my ass, I thought.

“Hybrid.” I let the word hang in the air and waited
for some kind of confirmation.

“More like a genetically altered clone of myself. She
is a part of me.”

“Genetically altered with whose DNA?” Aaron said from
across the table. “Did that person volunteer? Exactly how many
genetically altered versions of your kind are wandering
around?”

“Besides you, Aaron?”

This stung. Something I wasn’t expecting. Aaron’s
expression was indifferent, unaffected by the statement
entirely.

Danel reached over to the counter behind him without
leaving his chair, grabbed a very large file and slid it over to
Aaron across the table. The creature’s fluid movement and speed was
unnerving. Aaron paged through it and seemed to recognize some of
the photos it contained. He seemed impressed by its contents.

“Twenty percent of Earth’s population is a product of
our research. And all of them volunteered. And Aaron’s
great-great-grandfather was one of those volunteers.”

“To make us intellectually acceptable?” Aaron wasn’t
really asking; he was just more confirming what was obvious.

“Is it that bad? Has it really been a disadvantage?
Tell me the truth, because if you’re not happy, I’m sure we can
find a way to turn you all back into drooling Neanderthals.”

“Five thousand years ago, we weren’t drooling
Neanderthals,” Aaron said.

Oh, Aaron had hit a nerve. And it was safe to say
that Danel didn’t like humans at all.

“We didn’t do anything that wasn’t asked of us,
wasn’t begged for and what did we get in return? Hmm, well, when we
first got here, there was a large tribe that thought they would
live as long as we did if they just cut us open and ate our
innards. We were more than happy to civilize you.”

Danel’s voice was nearing something close to a snarl,
so I changed the subject.

“What about the agents in my apartment? Your
guys?”

“No, those were not ‘our guys.’ We have tried not to
associate with them since the Truman years. We have a few mindful
watchers in place. We assume the agents are working with Marie
Stakes, but there are a number of small sects still trying to find
us within the government, so we can’t be sure. There are some
people that believe that we’re more dangerous than helpful. There’s
only a handful really, mostly military officials that don’t know
that much about us and haven’t been able to find us.”

There was no hesitation in his answer — no nervous
movements or altered breaths. But trying to read Danel was simply
impossible. So far, the only human expressions he exhibited were a
slight slump of his shoulders and a sigh here and there. And
everything sounded just a little bit off to me.

“How can they not find you? There are three giant
satellite dishes up there basically marking an ‘X’ on the
spot?”

Danel seemed irritated now. “We don’t leave, Mr.
Kagen. No one leaves the station, ever.”

I was growing more impatient with every lie that came
out of its mouth.

“Really? Cuz I met Kye in Richie’s apartment.”

Danel let out a long sigh and although I couldn’t
read his expression, if I had to guess, it would’ve said something
like, “stupid humans.”

“Mr. Kagen, Kye can pass for human and her exit and
entrance to the station is strategically planned on every occasion.
I’d divulge more, but frankly, this information doesn’t concern
you.”

Wow. That was a quick change that I was totally
expecting. We just went from, “I’m happy to tell you everything,”
to “frankly, this information doesn’t concern you.” So I changed
the subject again.

“So how does Marie Stakes come into this?”

“She’s a pawn. She doesn’t even know what she’s
gotten herself into. She actually manages an accounting firm in
Vancouver. So when Richie got a hold of the box, she was pulled
into the situation by the FBI.”

“What about Richie?”

Now there was a long disturbing moment of silence.
There were no sighs now, which meant whatever he was going to say
next, I wasn’t going to believe. Danel looked at Kye to respond for
him and she did. This didn’t surprise me either.

“Richie was not our doing, we can assure you of
that,” was all she said. I read nothing in her facial expression
that said she was lying, but she could’ve been kept from the
truth.

Danel then pushed the metal briefcase into the center
of the table, “as we promised.”

“You’re just gonna let us leave?”

“Why not? It’s not like anyone would believe you.
It’s not like you would be let back in.”

Danel wanted us to leave, but I wasn’t interested in
leaving or the money. And what did I have to go back to? I couldn’t
even return the evidence and I was no closer to solving Richie’s
murder.

“I think we’ll stay,” I said.

“Then stay as long as you like.” Danel stood up,
staring me down and after a few seconds of what I think was
supposed to be intimidation, he left the room.

After a half a second, I realized I did plan to stay.
And now I understood something. I was supposed to be grateful that
they healed my knee. I was supposed be on their side, rooting for
them because they helped us evolve, but I wasn’t. I had that sour
feeling in my stomach and I looked up at Aaron, wondering where he
stood in the matter. His expression was the same as mine, he wasn’t
going anywhere.

“LET’S TAKE YOU back to the suite for a day until I
let everyone know you’ll be sticking around for a while. I’m sure
Danel went to tell Ben,” Kye said.

“Who’s Ben?” Aaron said.

“He’s the oldest and a lot more patient than
Danel.”

“How old is he?”

“Let’s just say he’s seen this ship fly,” she said,
smiling.

This meant he was over five thousand years old. We
headed back to the suite and Kye left to grab us some sandwiches
from the main hall. The suite door, surprisingly, remained
unlocked, but for some reason we didn’t leave the room. Still in
shock, I think. Normally, I wouldn’t have hesitated to investigate
new surroundings, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to find anything else
just yet. I could only imagine what was creeping around the
corridors or in the other medical labs. I tried to clear my mind of
the images that appeared and I thought half of Danel’s story was
full of crap. Basically, he insinuated that his species civilized
us, so we wouldn’t slaughter them anymore.

When Kye returned with some freshly grilled Rueben’s
on rye, I could tell she was happy we stayed.

“When I heard you were on your way, I made sure that
we had something to eat down here that you liked.” She laid the
tray on the small table in the kitchen area.

I hesitated, which made Aaron pause. We were both
starving, but I wasn’t sure we should trust them. Yes, they had
healed my knee, but I kept thinking we were in danger somehow and
they had already drugged us once. Were they really just going to
let us stick around? I looked at Kye and she pretty much read my
mind.

“It’s just food, I promise.”

Aaron took the first bite and then another and
another. After a few more minutes, nothing bad happened to Aaron,
so I believed her and we proceeded to consume the food, muttering a
couple of thank-yous.

“You don’t eat human food?” Aaron said, in between
bites.

“I can eat it and I love most of it, but my body
doesn’t absorb any nutrients from it.”

I noticed she was smiling more often now. She seemed
relieved by our presence. I tried not to, but in my head, I kept
comparing her to a human woman. She was in her twenties, early
thirties at most, but seemed so much older than her body appeared.
I found myself wondering if she was as old as Ben.

There were no immature expressions from her. Just a
simple pleased look. There were no lines on her face or hands; I
looked at my own hands, engraved in age beyond their years from
smoking and drinking. My face had plenty of wrinkles and slightly
dark circles around my eyes. I was attractive in my youth, but not
like Kye. She was stunning, even with the slightly transparent skin
and glowing gold eyes. She was unusually reserved and I could tell
that if she wanted you to know something, she would just say it. I
was fairly good at reading people’s expressions, but Kye wasn’t
really people.

“Danel mentioned there were no coverts to meet us.
Those are hybrids, too?” I said.

“No, they are humans. There are many that are willing
to keep our secret and help us. Just between us, he didn’t want to
bring any humans down here to greet you, so he waited for me to
return. The humans do not stay for more than a few hours and almost
all of them are only allowed to speak to me or Danel.” She waited
patiently for additional questions as I finished my last bite.

She took off her black heels and sat down in the
Queen Anne chair across the room. It was only a few feet from the
table. She pulled her long legs under her in the chair, making her
skirt ride up a little.

“Then how do you communicate with them?”

“The same way you do, satellites, Skype, cell
phones.” Her wit was dry, but I got the point, as her full lips
grew into a smile.

“Right, but we are pretty deep. How far below the
crust are we?”

“About twenty stories. We have technology that can go
through the crust, but I do go topside frequently to communicate
with them and the others.”

“So you’re the only one like… like yourself down
here?”

She nodded and the smile slowly faded. This explained
the loneliness I saw in her.

“So you’re the only hybrid? Is that what they call
you?”

“I’m a companion. And no, there were hundreds of us
created. They were developed, taught and shipped to those who
ordered them on the other stations.”

The word “companion” bothered me. This meant she was
Danel’s companion.

I looked at Aaron who caught the same words I did:
ordered, shipped.

“So you’re the only companion on this ship?”

“Well, yes. I’m the only companion left.” She looked
down, hesitant of what she was about to say next. “The companions…
did get a prolonged life, but not nearly as long as the elders. The
elders live thousands of years and so do their children.” She
seemed very careful in her words and was not looking me in the eye
when she said them.

“So why create companions at all?”

She hesitated even longer than before, contemplating
her answer and a grief swept over her face that I hadn’t seen
before.

“The elders can’t reproduce like humans can. Maybe
one in a handful of the females can have children at all and most
can’t have more than one every few hundred years or so.”

“So why not call you children?” Aaron finally chimed
in.

“We were called their children in the beginning, but
from what I’ve been told, they found it illogical, considering how
different we really were from them. We experience human
emotions.”

“So does Danel. I’ve seen it,” Aaron said.

“No, I don’t mean like that. Humans experience them
individually. The elders are all connected to each other
emotionally. They can feel each other; their pains, sorrows,
happiness, everything.”

Now this was interesting, like a hive soul.

“And you can’t feel them?”

“Very little. It’s small in comparison to what they
can feel, but you would probably find it significant.”

“Can they feel humans?”

“Not at all, but they’ve learned how to read them
really well,” and there was that smile again, brimming behind a
serious face.

“Can you feel humans?”

A smile spread across her face. “No.”

“They must find us juvenile.” This was rhetorical,
but she answered anyway.

“Pretty much,” she said, her smile growing even
wider.

I liked her dry wit.

“And what do you think of humans?”

“I’m not an elder. I haven’t been alive for thousands
of years. I don’t see you the same way.”

She looked at me for a long moment, long enough for
me to see her desire to be human.

Aaron chimed in again. “So could the companions
reproduce?”

“No, none of us could, no matter what they
tried.”

“So they just stopped making your kind?” I said,
knowing she heard the confusion in my voice. Because to me, it
seemed like if the companions didn’t serve a purpose, then they’d
just let them all die off. I couldn’t image a hybrid, I mean
companion, wanting that.

“That’s correct. They went back to focusing on
cloning themselves, with memories and everything. It was ten times
easier to splice human DNA with theirs, but eventually they got it
right. Or at least we think so. We’ve just started the cloning
process and haven’t successfully completed one yet. But we are very
close.”             

The cloning comment bothered me. What if that was
what they were waiting for? And they are just now able to clone
themselves. What if they had been silent all this time because they
were perfecting this cloning until they were able to make hundreds
of thousands of themselves, or millions? The idea bothered me. What
would happen if they did emerge topside and had a couple million
clones to disperse? I would discuss this with Aaron later and just
ask the easy questions for now.