CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

 

Ti’ann woke to a reunion of people crowding onto Nathan’s ship to check on her. When she managed to stand, Krin hugged her so tight he practically pulled her off her feet. She was grateful beyond words that everyone was okay, but she found herself hunting for Nathan in the crowd, the first person she wanted to see after waking up.

He stood a little to the rear, as distant as he could get from all the people, not smiling. He glanced at her, but his expression didn’t change from his “security specialist” mask. The lack of emotion in his eyes made her heart hurt in a way the painkillers BinRal had given her couldn’t ease. She wanted to talk to him, but with all the people clustered around, she couldn’t even navigate the corridor to reach him.

She was pulled from her thoughts when Clare asked after Val.

“They were forward in the communications room earlier,” Nathan said. “I assumed they were talking.”

“I passed there on the way in and it’s empty,” James said. “They must have gone outside.”

“Don’t blame them,” Krin said, still holding Ti’ann. “Bit crowded in here now.”

“So get out,” Nathan said.

“Good idea,” James said, giving Nathan a narrow-eyed look.

They filed out, Krin supporting Ti’ann as she limped along. When they were all standing on the landing pad, Ti’ann realized Nathan hadn’t followed. Tears stung her eyes, but she wrote them off to exhaustion. Things would be better after she rested, and she had a chance to talk to him.

When Nathan did join them a few minutes later, his brooding presence distracted Ti’ann from the relief of seeing most of her people well.

She limped away from Krin, stopping close enough to Nathan to touch. His face looked grim and serious. She reached out and laid a hand on his arm. When he looked down, she asked, “Is everything okay? You weren’t hurt were you?”

“No.”

“I’m glad.”

He nodded, his dark gaze finally softening a bit. Then he moved a few steps away, forcing her to drop her hand from his arm. Her bottom lip trembled. She looked away, blinked repeatedly to hold her tears off, and turned back to face the group. She felt like her heart was squeezing tightly in her chest. She was too emotionally raw from her day to deal with this right now. Good thing it’s dark, she thought as she tried to sniff quietly. She sucked in her bottom lip to stop it trembling.

Light from Nathan and James’ ships gently illuminated the landing area. In the gathering dark, they looked a small and ragged group. She could hardly believe only a day had passed since they’d been introduced to the Lost City leaders.

“Clare,” Nathan spoke up when she’d finished talking. “We need to get this story to your reporter friend. Now.”

Clare nodded. “I’ll go send the message this minute.”

“Do you need anything from us?” James asked.

“Maybe an anonymous witness comment or two for the networks.” Clare gestured to the members of the Shifter support group. “We won’t want to go public just yet. Ti’ann and Krin, the networks will probably want to interview you. But all that will be arranged later. They’re gonna want to break the news first, then start the interviewing.” She laughed, a light and happy sound. “This is gonna be great.”

Clare started toward James’ ship but stopped when Val, E and more than a dozen Shifters surrounded them.

“Everything all right, Val?” James asked, his attention focused on E.

There was a straightening of shoulders, an adjustment of stance by all the humans. Even BinRal seemed to brace and make himself look bigger—not a feat Ti’ann would have thought possible. She straightened, too, being face to face with E again. He’d saved her life. He’d brought her back here to get medical help. And she still wasn’t sure how she felt about him. Was she now in his debt? Did he consider what he’d done a favor?

“Yes,” Val answered James. “Maybe.” Turning to Clare, the Shifter said, “Stay please. There’s more to this story. We’re undecided as to whether it should be revealed. And we don’t have time for a typical Shifter debate.”

That got their attention. They all moved a few steps closer to Val and E. In the dark, the Shifters’ golden skin held a slight luminescence. Not enough to cast light, not really a glow. It was just visible despite the dark. Strange, Ti’ann thought, given the species was all about camouflage. She hadn’t noticed the effect in the city either.

Val looked for a long, quiet moment at E. Then said loud enough for the entire group to hear, “I see this face in your mind. You don’t think you know her. You don’t. But we do.”

Val shifted and there stood a young woman, golden hair with streaks of red and the most amazing shade of gold eyes. Her eyes nearly matched her hair color. Something about her eye color looked familiar.

Beside her Nathan sucked in a breath. “Kira Farseaker.”

Ti’ann startled, then looked closer at the woman Val was now. Kira Farseaker’s face had been all over the network news reports a year ago. No wonder she looked familiar. Ti’ann caught a gesture from the corner of her eye and turned to see Nathan fingering the metal tags visible on his chest through the open top of his shirt. She frowned at him.

He didn’t give anything away, but he mouthed the word, “Later.”

“Holy shit,” James said. He turned to E and his eyes widened. “Sonofabitch, I thought you looked familiar. You’re Ennoren.”

Ti’ann didn’t think anything else could shock her after the last two days. She was wrong.

“You’re supposed to be dead,” Juanita hissed.

“What the hell’s going on?” Mike said.

Glen let out a soft curse. “I’m glad Micca didn’t know about him.”

“I’m not Ennoren,” E said into the rumble of comment, silencing everyone. “Commander Ennoren is dead.” He didn’t sound certain though.

“Then how can you know Kira Farseaker?” James asked.

“I don’t. Her face is in my mind. I have no association for it. I don’t know why it’s there.”

“He doesn’t feel anything toward the image except confusion. He doesn’t know her. He hasn’t been conditioned for a response to her. At least not one that we can find.”

“You were worried he was an assassin?” Clare said, her gaze sharp.

Ti’ann gaped. She hadn’t made that connection.

“When I recognized in him the face of Commander Ennoren, and when I saw the image of Kira in his mind, we thought he’d been sent to find her. To kill her. She still has a lot of enemies here.”

“We don’t know where she is,” James said.

Ti’ann thought that made sense. They couldn’t be coerced into giving her away if they didn’t know.

“It doesn’t matter. He’s not here for that. Not yet. They haven’t triggered an innate reaction in him to her. If they had, I wouldn’t have shifted to her shape.” Val grinned with Kira’s face and shifted back to natural form but for a mouth. “But the image is there. It’s hard to tell if it’s been implanted or not.”

“If he doesn’t know Kira, how could her image be in his mind if it wasn’t implanted?” Krin asked.

“Why does he look like Commander Ennoren?” Juanita asked at nearly the same time. She stared at E in horror.

“The answer to both questions has to do with his nature, how he came to be.” Val paused and seemed to consider how to explain. “I’m not sure I understand what was done to him. E doesn’t know, so we can only guess. But this is his natural state.”

“I was part of a greater experiment,” E said, for the first time adding to his story. “There were four others before me, but they all failed. I’m the only successful result. Dr. Ripley told me I was different from the others. I thought he meant I was successful where the others had failed. I’m not sure of that now.”

Dr. Ripley? “What kind of experiments were these?” Ti’ann asked, a sudden wary suspicion overcoming both her sore hip and her sore heart.

“Genetic.”

“Dr. Ripley is the same scientist from Shifter Research Center, the one who co-authored the paper on Shifter remains? Oh, my god, he’s mixing Shifter and human DNA, isn’t he?” The realization hit her and she knew. This was the same Dr. Ripley and he’d gone beyond just working with Shifter DNA.

“We aren’t sure. Only guessing.”

“But,” Ti’ann hesitated. She faced Krin. “I know he was doing some innovative work fifteen years ago, but do you think he could possibly blend two completely different types of DNA? They don’t even have the same base pairs. Could it work?”

Krin shrugged and shook his head. “It would take special enzymes that recognized all eight base pairs. Or maybe he manipulated the purines of one type of DNA in such a way that they could form hydrogen bonds with the pyrimidines of the other strand. Or some combination to bring the total number of base pairs back down to four.”

He frowned, then said, “That would probably be the easiest way to mix the two types. It would more than likely render the resultant embryo sterile. And it would be damned difficult to predict the results of the genetic combinations. You’d end up with mush as often as a viable…anything, I would think. How would you even maintain the ability to shift in the context of the human genetic code?”

His narrowed eyes widened as the full impact hit him. “Jesus, Ti’ann, it would take some technological advances I haven’t heard of before. And it’d still take an embryo years to develop to maturity. He’d had to have started E more than ten years ago, even with advanced clone aging techniques.”

“I was fully functional two months ago,” E said. “I was started thirteen months ago.”

“You were started only thirteen months ago?” Krin asked, incredulous.

“That was around the same time Ennoren died, wasn’t it?” Ti’ann looked hard at Krin. “They didn’t. They couldn’t.”

Krin grimaced. “They might have.”

“What do you think they’ve done?” James asked, clearly confused.

“I don’t know for sure,” she said. She hitched to her good leg, even though she couldn’t feel pain in her hip through the painkillers. “I could be wrong. But for E to be fully developed in only eleven months, it’s entirely possible they used Ennoren’s fresh corpse for this experiment.”

“Why?” Glen asked, snarling in disgust.

Ti’ann glanced around the group. Most of the humans looked repulsed by the idea. Clare looked horrified but intent. There was no discernable expression on any of the Shifters’ faces or E. But that was pretty typical for E.

“It’s faster to repair than to grow from conception,” she started, looking to Krin for support. She was trying to explain something she didn’t fully understand herself. “If they got to him quick enough,” she said slowly, “they could fix the cellular damage to the body using epidermal and endodermal skimmers, and DNA recombined from the original host with DNA from a different source to…‘refresh’ the vital organs. After repairing the damage, the body would be placed in a microbial bath, giving it time to allow the recombined DNA to…infect the rest of the body. The cells made from recombined DNA would replace all the original cells in the body and a new life form develops using the corpse as a template.”

“In theory,” Krin said. “Using DNA from the dead body alone doesn’t jump-start the process of cell regeneration. The old DNA has to be recombined with new. The recombination process is similar to the results you get using sex. You start a new life. So you aren’t getting an exact copy, like a clone, or bringing the person back to life. The process is illegal, though—too similar in idea to the old Frankenstein’s monster story of reanimating a corpse. So no one has actually done it successfully.”

“That we know of,” Ti’ann said grimly. “But at least what we’re talking about is scientifically conceivable with modern technology. Recombining Naravan DNA with Terran DNA is…beyond anything we’ve ever done before.”

“Obviously not.” E’s reply would have been droll if he could express a sense of humor.

“So you’re saying that they used Ennoren’s body as a template, blending his DNA with a Shifter’s DNA and created E?” Clare’s mouth was turned down, her brows lowered in concentration.

“In a nutshell,” Krin said.

“We’re just guessing,” Ti’ann added. “We don’t know if any of this is true.”

“But if it is,” Krin said, “it is such advanced science I’m afraid what it might mean.”

“This is why we’re uncertain whether to reveal E or not,” Val said. “It’s important humans and Shifters know this type of experimentation is being done. No matter how they’ve manipulated the creation of E, work is being done to alter Shifter DNA and natures. Both species should know. But it may spark more fear than ever.” Facing the other Shifters in turn, Val said, “The news will spread among our own. We won’t be able to stop it.” A brief grin flashed. “Our gossip channels are more pervasive than your press. We bring to you the decision as to whether humans should know or not.”

“Humans do know,” Nathan said. “The ones performing the experiments know. There’s too much pride and arrogance involved in this kind of work for them to keep it silent forever. They’ll want credit, recognition. Eventually.”

“But is eventually better than now?” James said. “There’s going to be enough fear when the news of a Shifter city breaks. Do we really want to add fuel to what’s already going to be a volatile situation?”

“It may bring sympathy,” Glen said quietly. “Humans may start feeling some affinity for Shifters, knowing both species were manipulated this way.”

“Or they’ll just fear them more, thinking their dead corpses could be used to make super-Shifters,” Petrov, one of the collectors, said. It was the first time he’d spoken since the Shifters arrived. “I don’t mind telling you, the idea of my corpse being used this way creeps me out.”

Ti’ann knew how he felt.

“I’m sure Ennoren would have been disgusted, too,” Mike said. “He detested Shifters. To know his body was used to make E would infuriate him.”

E tilted his head down, a gesture Ti’ann was coming to recognize as his thinking pose.

“So, if he’s not really Ennoren,” Krin said, his mind obviously running a different track from the conversation, “if we consider Ennoren was more like his father, then why would he have a memory of Kira Farseaker unless it was implanted?”

“You’re stuck on that idea,” Juanita said. “What’s bothering you?”

“The fact that he shouldn’t have Ennoren’s memories. He’s not Ennoren. Ennoren is dead. But he’s carrying a distinct image of Kira Farseaker around with him. I’d be willing to bet if you looked, you’d find David Cario and a number of other people prominent to Ennoren’s downfall and the beginning of the Senate debates.” Krin looked at E. “It’s still possible you were originally designed to be an assassin. Maybe this time was just a test. Maybe they’re waiting to see if you succeed before they invest more time in you.”

An actual expression crossed E’s face. Surprise. “How would I not know that I was designed to be an assassin? Dr. Ripley has been telling me of my purpose since I could understand his words. Perhaps even before that. Why wouldn’t he tell me my real purpose?”

“He probably didn’t want you to give away your true purpose if you failed,” Ti’ann said quietly.

E stared at her with his emotionless blue eyes. It was impossible to guess what he was thinking. She wondered if Val could tell.

“So are we telling the public or not?” Clare said into the silence. “This is a brilliant story. The networks would kill to get it.”

“I think we’re better off keeping it quiet for the moment,” James said. “It may be useful later in the debates.”

“Dr. Ripley should be arrested for this,” Krin said. “He’s performing illegal and unethical experiments.”

“But he’s been doing that for years at SRC,” Ti’ann said. She could already see Krin getting his teeth into the ethical debate this created. “He’s going to have some very high up support to keep him and his experiments out of court.”

“Or maybe he’ll turn on the ones running and funding SRC? Maybe if they arrest him, it will put an end to a lot of the criminal activity,” Krin said.

“Or maybe it won’t.” Ti’ann sighed. “Maybe it would just get Ripley killed to shut the scandal up.”

“And maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing,” Krin retorted.

She shook her head and gave up. She was too tired to debate ethics with Krin. In fact, the whole conversation left her exhausted, not that she wasn’t already. She was a scientist. She’d never had any intention of getting involved in planetary politics. With grim acceptance, she realized she no longer had a choice. As soon as she started doing interviews for the press, she’d be in the middle of the issue. Her opinions would be asked, scrutinized, criticized and distorted. All she wanted to do was solve a mystery. Now her life would never be the same.

“I’m with James,” Mike said, straightening his glasses. “I think we should keep knowledge of E quiet for the moment. But only for now. There will come a time when it’s important for the public to know about him.”

“A vote?” James asked.

In the end, the vote was seven to three against telling the public. BinRal abstained on the grounds that he wasn’t Naravan. Clare, Krin and Glen voted for telling the public. Clare looked like she wanted to argue with the vote, but in the end, she accepted it. Ti’ann hoped she could keep the secret from her friend in the press.

“I’d better get this story to my contact,” Clare said. “How am I going to explain the deaths of the soldiers if I’m not allowed to mention E yet?”

“Tell them it was a dragon,” Ti’ann said with a grin, not really meaning for Clare to take her seriously.

“You could, actually,” Val said, in all seriousness.

“What?” Krin and Ti’ann said at the same time.

“What you call a dragon,” Val said, “is very similar to one of the predators that drove our evolution. They’re thought to have gone extinct when we evolved shifting. We weren’t their only food source, but they used to eat many of our other large predators. As those predators died out, the dragons ran out of food.”

“You mean we could find a dragon skeleton!” Ti’ann was nearly bouncing, despite her hip. She and Krin exchanged excited grins. “Would you be able to tell us a likely place to hunt for dragon bones?” she asked a now grinning Val.

“I think we can arrange something.”

“But if they’re extinct,” Clare said, already edging toward James’ ship, “how could one have saved us?”

“Maybe there are one or two left,” Val said.

They all stopped to stare at the Shifter, whose expression gave nothing away.

“Are there?” Ti’ann asked in a hushed voice.

Val just smiled.

Clare laughed. “This is gonna be great.” She hooted and charged off toward the ship.