“Fuck!” He punched the door frame. “Come. Let’s see what they found out.”
Like maybe there were miracles written on the walls? A last scrawled message from Willow?
No. there would not be. But she trudged after him.
When Maura looked to them from where she sat next to Vincent on the bed of the innermost bedroom, Cyn shook her head. Vincent laid his arm around her in a gentle hug, and the bed creaked and dipped even further in the middle.
“No. I’m sorry. She’s gone. We are only down the road a way. Would have heard shouts if they had any chance to resist.” The explanation was as much for her as for Maura. She was trying to understand what had happened. “The Lure must’ve got them fast.”
It might have been several skinsuits.
“They should have kept me as a guard, or one of us rockmen,” Vincent said miserably.
The truth in that only made her feel worse. “Or me. Hindsight never achieves much.”
She’d been too busy having sex. There were many better decisions that could have added up to Willow and these beasters surviving.Next time. Next time they’d know better. Do better.
She wanted to go punch walls, like Rutger did when he was angry.
“This was planned. A strategic strike.” Rutger sat down on the other side of Maura.
That bed was going to explode under the weight.
Surprisingly, Maura had a gleam in her eyes when she raised her head.
“There’s something important. Something… big. I told Willow I might inject myself with nanites, but she refused, told me I should wait until I knew what was best. Until we knew if it was safe.” She inhaled, exhaled. “Before they took her, Willow was reading a paper that says what you are. Go in and see Vargr. He has the notes.”
The fire in her words was courageous, considering what they faced. Maura was a good woman but never this.
Rocked by her certainty, wondering what Maura had found, Cyn entered the study where Vargr was vacating the chair of the desk.
“Read,” he said, gesturing at the desk to her and Rutger. “You need to see the words yourself.” Then he went to the wall andleaned on it, watching greedily as she approached the opened folder.
Cyn sat, pulled in the chair, and Rutger leaned over her. She found it difficult to focus at first, to understand anything beyond the pain in her chest and the tears that threatened to fall.
“Okay, here goes,” she murmured, and she opened the folder.
Rutger pressed his hand to the top of her head.
Together they read. This wasn’t even in code but must have been buried among the many papers.
It was page sixty-two that was bookmarked.
PROJECT MAELSTROM& PROJECT BEAST HORDE
Details of the DNA attached to the nanomachines, in summary. This was as recovered from the bodies found at the archaeological excavation in New Zealand (precise site location redacted).
BEAST HORDE DNA, probable origins:
#1 Gargoyle– subject alterations range from increased bulk, horns, nodules on and hardening of the skin, increased strength, claws, wings etc. Lure resistance. Curiously, also a possessive attachment to the buildings they are stationed on has manifested.
#2 Dwarf– decreased stature but increased muscle mass and strength, resistance to the Lure, ability to manipulate technology and create new mechanisms such as weaponry.
#3 Fae– slender build, Lure resistance, ability to somehow do what appears to be ‘magic’ that manifests as mind powers, empathy with animals, healing, diagnostic abilities, andelectronic manipulations. The ramifications are as yet not fully explored. The suggestion that ‘magic’ is actually a power to transform electrical and atomic energies has some merit.
As the BeastHorde subjects have not been able to fully resist the effects of the Lure, we moved on to MAELSTROM, using DNA from more questionable sources.
#1 Troll– increased size, weight, transformation of muscle and other organ tissue to a greatly calcified type of flesh. Though showing immense promise in our war against the Ghoul Lords and an apparent total resistance to the Lure, tests show they also are photosensitive to extremes.
