He waits. My frankenstruct man is patient. It’s a trait I would love to have.
“Is it completely wrong to make people like you? It cannot be.” He’s still waiting, so I continue. “So, it’s wrong because you were never asked, but what if people have the choice? Is that right and moral?”
“You’re asking if frankenstructs are something that should exist?”
“I guess? Except I don’t want the answer to be no.” I prop my chin on my hands, then momentarily bury my head under those hands. “Sorry. It’s an insulting question.”
“I’m not insulted. I’ve been thinking about this question too. I’m not sure we have any control over this. It’s a Pandora’s Box problem. The cat is out of the bag.” He points outward, at the lake, at the ducks floating about quacking near the shore. “Let’s enjoy the morning before we get more philosophical.”
I sigh and settle into soaking up the quietude. This soothing wind and this lake that stretches away into serenity, and those ducks? Kail is right. My heart slows as I relax. If not for the threat of drifting dead things, I could stay here. “Though I do long for the days of having a pastry and barista coffee for breakfast.”
“My coffee is no good?” Kail pouts, his scars pulling this way and that on his not-pretty but perfect-for-me face.
I reach across the table to slap his arm and notice a car driving along the track toward us.
Melody is arriving early, as she said she would. My pink Chevy rumbles to a stop beside the jeep.
“Thought you’d like to see your car!” She slams the door after retrieving a black duffel bag that weighs down her hand. Her blue-denim bib overalls make me think she’s planning to do some hardcore work.
“And I thought it was too obvious a car?” I sing out as she nears the porch. Kail and I stand. I do love the vehicle. “If I drive it into town, we may as well wear party hats and alert the institute.”
“Yeah, the party hats would make them notice you. I meant you might drive it around here. Though the roads are rough, she’s adequate for most of the road surfaces. I think Esau plans to come out in two days with his and swap cars.” She puffs up her mouth and huffs. “It’s complicated trying to juggle cars.”
“And living places. Like this. We need a breakthrough. A way into the institute. Evidence of body snatching.Something.Rasmus still has nothing.”
“He said that to me too. Last resort, we try for some state rep or higher and give them what you have. I read the draft email. If they get a warrant to search the institute, I’m betting they will discover evidence.”
“If.” I wince.
“If you do that, I will volunteer as evidence,” Kail says.
And yet he’s said no to being put on the spot before, especially regarding where he comes from. And that would have to be detailed, if he gave evidence. They’d poke him, prod him, demand to know things he might not wish to say.
“Not yet,” I tell him.
He shrugs.
We all shake hands before Melody eyes our coffee. “I see you’re ready to help me. Fueled up with caffeine.” Her smile is broad. “I’ve had breakfast. If you’re here for a couple of days, you can do some tissue sampling.”
“How? You aren’t going to be doing that on anything alive?” I feel I should say that, though I know what her answer is likely to be. I preempt her. “Dead things?”
“Yep. It’s my day off, but tomorrow you can do some by yourselves. Let’s see.” Melody dumps the duffel bag on the cabin’s porch and sorts through the contents. “I can’t keep things cold until we get back here, so a zip lock bag is enough. Sample punch.” She holds it up. “I don’t ask anything dangerous of you.”
“Good,” Kail mutters. “And the reasons for this?”
She straightens. “To see if any of the weirdnesses out here are related. I get DNA done, mostly. I used to see if there were any common disease etiologies, but that’s been consistently negative.”
DNA. My brain pricks up at that. I wanted to get Kail’s, and from how she’s cocking her head at him, she’s had that same thought.
“So far nothing alien has turned up. Kail, can I ask if you?—”
“My DNA? No. Sorry.”
For a second or two it’s a standoff. “Fair enough. Get your boots on, both of you. I walk around this part of the lake on foot.”
It turns out that samplinganythingincludes one duck. My boots are muddy, full of water and bits of rotting plant matter. The lake is pristine for a lake of this size, according to Melody, except for the odd deer with holes that should not be in itshead. She sounds sad to have lost that dead deer to the lake. The duck likely died of natural causes, yet she punches out a sample and stores it, demonstrating the procedure. Contamination is likely on the outside, so a deep sample from the middle of the duck is in order.
It’s a smelly business, and I pray we find very few bodies. I nearly threw up.
