Two armed men rush into the room, “Freeze! Hands up!”
Several more run past behind them, with another pair opening the door across the hallway.
Everyone already has their hands up, except Twoey, who has one hand in her cleavage, which is now chunky and several sizes larger.
Twoey turns, a Nufuud bar half eaten and sticking out of her mouth, several food items, a torch, and some flat wrappers with a ring-shaped item inside falling from the bottom of her dress onto the floor.
The guards pause at this.
Twoey raises her hands half-heartedly, more items falling at her feet from her dress, “No pockets.”
Zone whispers, “There’s bags, you know…”
The guard on the left speaks into a wrist computer, “We’ve found five inside what looks like a storage room. Three felis women, a woman,” he pauses on Roxy for a moment, his helmet moving down towards her chest, before snapping to Cai, “and a man. They appear to be subjects or prisoners using the commotion to steal. Two appear to be the missing man, Cai Halley, and his companion Nyx.”
Roxy’s expression turned to shame at the attention.
They lower their guns, “Are you Cai Halley?”
Cai nods, still limping as Nyx notices his leg is still numb from taking a stun round to it, “Yes. Nyx and I were captured and brought here against our will. The other three are test subjects that helped us escape.”
“Alright. Put down any weapons and belongings you have. Can’t be sure if you’re working for these bastards.”
Cai nods, “Alright. Just be careful with the wrist computers. They’ll destroy themselves if anyone not registered to them tries to do anything to them.”
Nyx hugs her bag wanting to take the drawing out, then sets it down knowing she’d probably get it back, anyway.
Twoey grabs her dress and shakes it until the last of the items she hid fall out.
The other guard, who had been silent until now, lets out a laugh, “Okay, kid. I’m impressed.”
Zone rolls his eyes, “Don’t encourage her.”
Once Cai puts down his gun, they wave them out, “Okay, Private Adams here will take you to the holding area.” He touched his wrist computer again, “Sending Private Adams back with the five. Sweeping the room, then moving on to the next area.”
Private Adams waves for them to follow.
As they pass the disabled robots, he kicks one, “You five responsible for the mess out here? Saw a guy on the floor in that room over there with his head bashed in, too.”
Twoey grins, “Yep! Hubby did it!”
Zone groans.
Cai chuckles awkwardly, and Nyx sees a hint of a blush.
Nyx grabs Cai’s arm to help him walk. Yeah, just to help him walk. She then gives Twoey a smug grin and a finger before she looks up at Cai, “You were gettin’ ‘em in one blast.”
Twoey returns the finger, sticking her tongue out.
They pass the director’s room and see a medic looking him over.
Heidi is gone.
Nyx growls as she looks at him.
Private Adams points to a door guarded by two other soldiers, “In there with the others.”
Cai nods, “Thanks.”
They enter the room after the two guards look them over and open the door, “Get in.”
There’s four more guards watching the room inside. It’s a playroom, with toys fit for children of various ages, holo tables, and other things Nyx doesn’t care to look at.
It’s also filled with children. Not just the ones she’d seen earlier, but younger ones. Even a group of toddlers barely old enough to run. All but the eldest children look terrified, and most are crying.
There are several women attending the children.
She also sees several scientists and orderlies crowded into a corner of the room with two of the guards at the ready and watching them.
Nyx finds Dr. Yang, and she feels a terror in her gut as the memories of needles and the sensations of them pricking her give her phantom pains in her eyeballs.
Zone’s attention goes to a brunette with a fairly pretty face, thin build, and at least a head taller than him. She sees several emotions cross his face before he calls out to her, “Gwen!”
The woman, who is talking with a man with short blonde hair and a hard face, turns to look. Her face was one of surprise, then harsh for a moment before she forced a smile, “Zone. It’s nice to see you safe.”
She rubs her belly, and Nyx can smell stress coming off of her and both disgust and lies as she speaks to Zone. Smells she knew well during her time on the Az Gaper.
Zone looks at the man, a hint of pain and anger, before he turns back to Gwen, then smiles, “They didn’t stun you, did they? I don’t want our kid hurt.”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
She sighs, “Listen, Zone. I’m going to get this out of the way so we’re not fooling ourselves anymore. I don’t love you. You knew going in that the director paired us to see if humans and Felis could have children together with your gene mods.”
Zone’s ears flatten, “Yeah. I had hoped…”
She shakes her head, “I only did it because the director said he’d give Michael and I permission to have a baby after yours was healthy. If this hadn’t happened…” She looks around, “I was going to abort it as soon as the director let me.”
Zone clenches his fists, “I’ll take care of it.”
She shakes her head, “No. I will not keep your baby inside of me. Every time we had sex, I felt so dirty, and your baby, every second it’s in me…” She grimaces, “I regret it. Agreeing to sleep with you. Every night.” She looks at him, a hint of pain and sadness, “Never come near me again.”
Zone growls, his face a mix of pain and frustration, “I could tell. I could tell you hated it.” He turns away, and without looking at the group, “Let’s go.”
Twoey runs up to him and gives him a hug, “It’s okay.”
Nyx growls at Gwen, “Humph!” And follows.
Roxy approaches Gwen, shivering, “Gwen.”
Gwen sighs deeply, “Roxy, please. I’m going to serve whatever sentence these backwards colonists give us, then live with Michael.”
Michael, who has been watching silently, puts a hand on Gwen’s shoulder, “Yeah. Get the hell away from my wife. All of you.”
Cai takes Roxy by her shoulders, which causes her to flinch, “Come on.”
Roxy nods, “Okay. I just… Well, none of them were our friends. But she at least talked to me, so I thought…”
Gwen yelps as her pants fall to the ground.
Twoey somehow moved behind her, “Don’t kill my nephew, you… you… Bitch!”
Michael tries to grab Twoey, who jumps out of the way easily, then hides behind Cai, sticking her tongue out.
Cai shakes his head and says loud enough that Gwen and Michael can hear it, “Twoey… She’s not going to kill it. Abortion is considered first-degree murder in Sandel Colony unless the baby would die anyway or if the mother would if she didn’t abort it.”
Gwen frowns and turns to Michael, “He’s right. These backwards religious nuts think that.” She turns to Roxy, “We have artificial wombs. Take the baby and raise it yourself. I will never be its mother. Even if I wanted it, I can’t raise it in prison.”
Michael swears something under his breath, and his face darkens. Nyx wonders if he’s murdered other kids? She’s not sure what abortions are or why they’re good or bad, but she knows they have killed kids. She’s disappointed she won’t see them die for their crimes, but when she remembers shooting the director, she remembers Cai telling her she shouldn’t get used to killing people, even if they’re simulations and these people aren’t simulations. Maybe she could make an exception for these people.
They leave the scientists and orderlies, Nyx hissing at Dr. Yang when it looks like he’s about to say something.
No one talks until they stop at a spot near the infants.
Zone growls, “Gah! I can’t believe I thought I’d developed something with her.”
Roxy pats his head, “We’ll get the baby.”
Cai looks uncomfortable and whispers to Nyx, “Zone is a man? I thought he was a girl the whole time. Just with a slightly deep voice for a woman.”
Nyx nods, “Yep. He’s bein’ a boy. Roxy is makin’ the clothes.”
She shows off the dress she’s wearing.
Twoey jumps on Cai’s back and hangs off her neck, “Yeah. Right hubby?”
Zone looks at Gwen, “I don’t know how to be a dad. Where are we even going to go after this?”
He chews on a fingernail.
Twoey whispers into Cai’s ear, “You won’t leave us?”
Roxy looks at Cai, blushing and still trembling, “The colony, would it take us? They…” She glances at the orderlies, one of whom sees her looking and sneers back, causing Roxy to pull her arms to herself protectively, “Said the colony hates people like us.”
Nyx wonders why the orderly sneered at Roxy
Cai crosses his arms and sighs, “The Genetic Purists hate gene mods, yes. But the people that do it, not the children. I took gene mods to stop aging. You four had no choice. You, all the other kids, I’m sure they’ll take care of you, and when the fabricators are up again and they fix the hydroponics for the colony and have more food, they won’t have any trouble feeding you. And I’m fairly certain there’s fabricators and hydroponics here, too.”
Nyx recalls the woman who drew her and Cai’s picture, “They’re bein’ nice to me. Knew I was bein’ a Felis and still was treatin’ me like a friend.” She looks at the three. Roxy, who took care of her and comforted her. Zone, who was a pain, but really cared. Twoey, who kept her on her toes. “Cai, can they be comin’ with us?”
Cai sighs, “You know the Donati doesn’t have room for five. Six if Gwen gives us the baby.” He closes his eyes, “I do have a way, but only if you all want to come. But are you sure any of you want to come? It’ll just be us out there. Here, you’ll have thousands of people to interact with.”
Zone picks his ear as he replies, “Stuck in a dome with tons of people who see these ears and pretend to be nice or on a ship where I know no one cares about me growing up in a lab?”
He flicks some earwax towards Gwen.
Roxy looks up as she realizes Zone hasn’t given an answer, “I… Cai. We’ve been in a tiny room for our entire lives. I’m… I’m terrified thinking about open spaces. Streets filled with people. I think I’d hide in my room, sewing. Maybe after a while I could go out, but… Nyx told us what you’re doing. Finding a new home. A new Earth. I’d like to help look. Um… If you don’t mind…”
Twoey nods enthusiastically.
Nyx purrs, “Cai?”
“There aren’t any. Other habitable worlds. Maybe with the industrial capacity of Earth we could terraform one in a few hundred years. But we’ve looked. Scanned. Earth appears to be one of a kind.”
Nyx’s ears fold back, and for the first time she feels betrayed by Cai, “You were tellin’ me you were still lookin’! You were lyin’ to me?”
“No. I didn’t lie. And no, I can’t tell you why I’m contradicting myself because I’m not even sure if I can be right about it. But… I’ll tell you what. When we’re on the Donati, I’ll explain everything.”
Zone looks at Cai, “Nyx, your boyfriend’s got secrets.”
Nyx blushes, “He’s… he’s not bein’ my boyfriend.”
Twoey reaches over and smacks her, “Then ask!”
Nyx growls at Twoey, “It not bein… Not bein’ like that.”
Cai chuckles, but the look he gives Nyx is warm, “Yeah. We’re not like that. I mean, we only met like two days before we came here.”
Roxy shifts on her feet as she looks like she’s going to say something, “Um… I… I think you… you’re handsome…” She squeaks when she realizes what she’s said, “I mean Nyx is a good girl and you should…” she turns, “Sorry! None of my business!” She covers her face with her hands as she blushes furiously.
Nyx feels her jaw drop. She thought Roxy hated men. Every time the orderlies came in, she gave off a terrified smell and looked at the floor with her hands clasped in front of her.
Twoey chortles, “Go Roxy!”
Zone looks surprised, “Whoa… the Roxy that’s terrified of men?”
Roxy looks up and at the orderlies, then to Cai, “It’s just… When Nyx told me about you, I felt you were a kind person and…”
Cai looks like he’s not sure what to say for a moment, then puts a hand on Roxy’s shoulder, “Look. I gave up dating and women the moment my wife died. Actually, I gave up on people. I was fine being alone for another hundred years. I can’t stand society. All the rules and obligations. Always worried about the right thing to say. Trying to make them happy. But with Nyx? I’m not the kind of person that would help someone if I could. But… It’s been fun being with someone that’s not a simulation. So you can all come with me.” He takes a deep breath. “But having a relationship? Well, you’re all so much younger than me, so it feels kind of awkward even thinking about it. I mean, you realize I’m like three hundred years older than you four, right?”
Nyx tugs on his sleeve, “So you’re just gonna be sparkin’ alone until you be dyin’?”
She felt lonely on a ship with people that hated her for the short time she’s been alive. He’s been alone for what? Two hundred years of his life?
“You’re bein’ a sparkin’ shunk bucket!” And she bites him.
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