“The white zones in your nervous system are significantly smaller than in your previous scans.” Charlie points to the monitor and the side-by-side images of my brain. As before, most of me appears red with a few cool white spots that are smaller in the after picture. “Spending time with SC-13 definitely ameliorated your condition.”
“And I helped him, right?”
“As far as I can tell. His heart rate is up and he’s moving. I’d say the outlook is positive.” He says positive but his tone is pessimistic.
“You don’t sound overly thrilled.”
“The spots are smaller, but they’re still there. You’re not cured. There’s no guarantee SC-13 will survive to term. Still, what I’m seeing is hopeful.”
“What are you seeing?”
“Every person puts off an electromagnetic field, or EMF. Yours, being what you are, is stronger than mine and exponentially stronger than the average human being’s. SC-13 also gives off an EMF, but his is complementary to yours. I can’t prove it without testing him, but I think…”
“What?” I press Charlie to continue by placing my hand on his forearm and shaking it gently.
“I think this is your baby, and I think nature designed the gamma generation to have a symbiotic relationship to its parents. His EMF is healing to you because in a natural pregnancy, keeping you healthy would keep him healthy. We see this in nature. A virus or a parasite won’t kill you quickly. Keeping you alive to spread the organism to others is a part of its survival.”
“Are you calling my baby a parasite?”
“I’m just saying that nature may have wired his nervous system to stabilize yours. We’d asked the question how SC-13 had kept Dr. Konrad alive without him extracting blood or fluids. He’d done that to the previous twelve, and each had died. As you now know, he didn’t extract anything from SC-13. It was SC-13’s proximity, not his chemistry that kept Konrad stable. Which means, the pod you saw Dr. Konrad sleeping in was most likely designed to magnify SC-13’s EMF.”
My lips part as realization dawns. “And Konrad didn’t inject SC-13 with anything to keep him alive. Konrad’s EMF enabled his growth.”
“Not as well as yours would, but yes. In theory, any of us could provide what SC-13 needs.”
“And Dr. Konrad would have kept him forever. He would have been poked and studied until he had nothing left to give. Dr. Konrad told me my existence is due to a rare mutation. He didn’t think he could make another gamma, even if Korwin and I hadn’t destroyed the rest of our genetic material.” The thought alone makes me hate Dr. Konrad all the more. I hope he is dead, flattened at the bottom of that collapsed building. I wish I had dug for his bones. I wish I’d seen his bloody and broken body.
“He’d likely try to clone him eventually. Why settle for one gamma when you can have an army of them?”
In Hemlock Hollow we used to talk about the Devil, the incarnation of evil. When I picture the Devil now, I don’t see red pointed tails or pitchforks. I see Dr. Konrad. “He killed Pierce. Said he had a benefactor on the inside.”
“I don’t suppose he mentioned who it was?”
I shrug. “No. Trinity thought it could be anyone.”
“Pierce had few friends in the capital.”
I turn my attention back to the scan of my brain. “Should I be with SC-13 now? Do you think this healing happens all the time, or just when we’re sleeping?”
“There’s only one way to find out. Stay away this afternoon and let me monitor his vitals. I’ll call you if things turn for the worse. Once I know how long the effect of your presence lasts, we’ll know how long you two can be apart. Then we’ll test the effects of keeping you together.”
“Wouldn’t it be safer if I stayed with him?” I look down at my stomach, guilty that I can’t provide the safe home for him that nature intended.
“I can’t implant him into you, if that’s what you’re wondering. The artificial placenta won’t adhere to your womb. The Greens have tried it before. While your biology is different, I don’t think you’d have a better outcome. Even with the most cutting-edge technology, which I don’t have, it’s never been done successfully. If SC-13 is going to live, he’s going to develop to term inside that artificial womb. We need to figure out your limitations.”
“I just… I’m his mother. I should take care of him. I should be with him.”
Charlie shakes his head. “You can’t, Lydia. Not all the time. It’s not practical,” he says in a low and apologetic voice. “Especially not now. War is coming. The Liberty Party needs you more than ever.”
“War? What are you talking about?”
“The council delayed meeting with you and Korwin because of your physical infirmity, but now that you’re better, they’ll add you to the team. No doubt about it.”
“What team?”
“After talking to Trinity, the Liberty Party was able to connect a series of intercepted messages from Green Party headquarters. As we’ve feared, they’ve named Elias Fitzgerald as chancellor in place of Pierce. There’s already chatter about retaliating against us for the murder of the chancellor.”
“But now that we know Dr. Konrad killed Pierce, can’t we tell someone it wasn’t us?”
“There’s no proof. Konrad was too careful. The Greens would never believe it wasn’t us.”
“You believe they’ll attack us here.”
“They know we’re in the Outlands. The flashers don’t just up and leave in a swarm like that. Our intelligence is firm. They’re readying an attack. Probably spreading the drones out to survey the border and record our coming and going.”
“Dr. Konrad was controlling the drones. That’s how we found out about Trinity. A drone came to my room.”
“What?”
“It came through the ventilation shaft and played Konrad’s message to us.”
Charlie rubs his forehead as if his head hurts. “Is it still there?”
“I haven’t been back, but we didn’t move it.”
“Konrad must have a benefactor on the inside. There’s no way he got access to drone technology on his own.”
“Any estimate of how long we have until they attack?”
“Best we can tell, they don’t know exactly where we are or how we’ve survived. Trinity has shared that the size of our rebellion is hotly debated among the leadership, and our intelligence backs that up. The Outlands are vast and uncharted for the most part. They still believe the radiation is real. But fear of the unknown won’t hold them back forever. We’re just waiting for them to make the first move. We have a better chance of winning the war on our turf than on theirs.”
Tension starts under my ears and works its way down my back. “I’m the reason the drones found us at all,” I confess. “Konrad programmed the drone to track me specifically. I think they flashed on me when I attacked Jeremiah and Konrad used that, along with the data he had on me, to find me. I led him here.” I hold the sides of my head and squeeze my eyes shut.
Charlie places his hands over mine. “It was only a matter of time until they found us. Don’t beat yourself up. Crying over the past won’t prepare us for the future.”
“So, the Greens will attack. And then what? Can we possibly win this thing?” I shake my head. I don’t mean to be defeatist, but it seems like a lost cause.
Charlie leans forward and grips my shoulders. “Yes, we can. The Greens have spread themselves too thin over the last month trying to control the ever-widening gap between the Uppercrust and everyone else. They’ve completely militarized the Deadzone and have troops permanently stationed in all provinces. Their military is vastly underfunded. They won’t pull everyone in to attack. They can’t. At every angle, they are threatened with mutiny.”
I remember the picket lines I saw outside the ball at the Ambassador’s Club. People aren’t happy. It isn’t just the Liberty Party on the verge of revolution. The Green Republic is coming apart from the inside out.
“Will you excuse me?” I say. “I need to find Korwin.”
“Of course. He needs to be briefed on what I told you. The council will want to talk to each of you. We need to bring you two up to speed as soon as possible and resume your training. A week in bed and a broken spine have taken their toll, but we’ll have you ready to fight in no time.”
“We’re getting married today,” I say softly.
Charlie’s eyebrows lift. “Married?”
“Today. Hopefully, today, if the pastor will do it.”
“Have you told anyone about this yet?”
I shake my head. “No. Why?”
The corner of his mouth twitches. I can’t tell if he’s forcing himself to smile or forcing back a smile. “You’re so young.”
“Most people are married by my age in Hemlock Hollow.”
He shakes his head. “It seems like bad timing. Maybe you two should wait until things are more settled.”
“There’s never a good time. We can only guarantee today.”
“With more time, I could explore the implications.” His eyes flit to the desk where he takes interest in some paperwork that is upside down.
“I’m through waiting. His father, my Ordnung, everyone in our lives has tried to protect us from each other. But they don’t get it. All we really have is each other. We are two manufactured creatures. You know, I spent my entire childhood worried about my soul and never questioning what was under my skin. A madman wired Korwin and me. We are human and machine. We belong together in every way. If you’re worried about sex, don’t be. Korwin and I have more control over what we are than anyone has ever given us credit for.”
Charlie lowers his eyes and stares at his hands. “There’s so much we don’t understand.”
“Hasn’t anyone ever told you, Charlie? That’s why we have faith.”