“I know, because their genetic read outs are all different… but they all have the same biological father.”
“You’re right. I amnotthe scientist of the family, but… I do know how to read. All three of them are up there.”
“Here, let me color code it for you.” He taps in a dozen commands and the screen flashes with four bright colors. “This should help.”
I screw my lips together, because I hate that he’s being a dick, but he’s also right… It does help.
Three ladder-like columns, mostly pink, with green and yellow and orange rungs all around… but green is the second most prominent color.
“It doesn’t really change anything, does it?” I ask, “I mean… isn’t what you’ve done also medical intervention?”
He doesn’t answer me, either he’s not listening, or I’m right.
Groaning, I slouch against the bars. “I’m bored. So, you can keep talking to me, or I can figure out the best ways to annoy the fuck out of you. Your choice.”
“I didn’t change you or the weeuns. I changedthem. I thought that was obvious by now.”
“So… if you want to make this work, you’re going to have to mutate the entire planet’s population? Who would go for that? Especially knowing your history.”
“I don’t need to ask them.” He closes out of the screen I can see. “We have always done what we needed to and they have always accepted what they were told.”
A shiver crawls down my spine, and I’m not bored anymore. My imagination has decided to throw a gruesome party.
ARC
The stairs keep going further and further down, random steps triggering more flames that push us deeper. As if we had a choice.
Neither of them know what’s waiting for us at the bottom. We just know it can’t be good.
“I’m sorry I strangled you.”
“It’s okay. If I ever let our mate go off into certain danger again, I expect you to do the same.”
“I’ll try not to.”
Another loose step, another set of flames, and I almost wish the heat bothered me. I hear it, but don’t know how close it is. The chemical reaction of it touching my skinwilleat holes through me… it would be nice to have better warning.
When we finally reach the bottom, I don’t have to worry about it. The stairs are a tunnel of flames behind us, but the lab…
“This was under us the whole time?” I ask quietly, even though we’re the only ones here.
“The Maker built these places,” Risk says, unsettled by the knowledge his mutation has just provided to us. “The experiment never ended. Our cage just changed.”
The screens have been left on.Yearsof data from our medfac. Notes on the cavrinskh we were sent to kill… My routes around the Zone.
“He was laughing at me the whole time.”
They don’t tell me I’m wrong. They can’t.
New information on Chrys… recordings of us…
“No wonder he wanted the woman at the zurgle cafe to get Kissu away from us.” Every image he’s in is broken into fractals.
Zurgles don’t show up in digital data. I didn’t realize how much they distort it.
There’s a flashing button on the console and I reach for it.
“Don’t.” Risk stops me. “It starts a countdown and a video he recorded for us. We don’t need to hear his gloating or trigger the timer. We’ve already got a time limit.”
