Chapter 17

  Year 2210

  -There is a straggler 2 blocks out, an Other, it's like he's dancing on the no go line. Just kill him not worth the risk.- Maria says.

  -We can't do that, if we start killing on the line it'll draw attention to the area. I'll loop around 2 blocks north- I say. Maria is so protective, but she's rash when it comes to protecting the home.

  -I really need you here, she's a handful and my eyes are bugging from looking at screens for 10 hours. I want to run assistance tomorrow, I need a break.

  -You need to start trusting Dan to take a break for a bit.

  I run 2 blocks wide and run to the building. I open the door; half a flight up an old lady is walking on her hands down the stairs. She stops and smiles.

  “You know, you can walk on your hands on the floor where it's flat, you're driving your mother crazy.” I walk up to her, she shimmers as she turns off her illusion generator. I check the camera feeds in my combat shades, there is no camera view of this stairway. “Jennifer, did you turn the camera off so your Mother wouldn't see you walking down the stairs with your hands?”

  “Um, maybe it was Dan.” She says, still standing there on her hands. “My legs are tired, I need help walking all the way upstairs.” She says with a hopeful grin.

  “Was it you Jen?”

  “Was what me? I'm sorry Dad, there is no challenge where it's flat.”

  We don't know what to do with her. She has so much energy, she's as fast as we are but fearless. Once she discovered she heals fast from cuts and bruises she became really reckless. The gymnastics course was helpful, but she got bored of it. I haven't told Maria yet but she got a hold of the training through Dan's login and has been practicing taekwondo. The last thing we want is for her to start testing her new hobby, or finding someone to test it on.

  “Why are your legs tired? You're not using them.”

  I sit on the stair below her, she flips onto my shoulders. I run up stairs as she squeals.

  “Don't run up the stairs!” Maria yells.

  “See? You're getting you Dad in trouble.”

  She giggles.

  “Jennifer, did you turn the camera off?” Maria says as we enter the room.

  “Maybe Dan...”

  “Jennifer! Don't lie, did you or did you not turn off the camera?”

  “I didn't! Why are you yelling at me for that?”

  “Well now you're getting yelled at for lying, go to your room. And no hanging out the window.”

  “No, it's not fair! There is nothing for me to do, I can't go here and can't go there, I can't do this, I can't do that. Why is no one else my age?”

  Jen has my eyes but Maria's temper. The two of them staring down each other is pretty intense. Dan is creeping out of the room.

  “Go. Now.”

  She stomps her foot and storms off to her room, the door slams, then it crashes to the ground. Maria starts to walk off.

  “I got it, we'll talk after I fix the door.” I say. She turns her glare to me, then wipes her eyes.

  “We brought her into this prison life, she's right, it's not fucking fair. Just, fix the door for now.”

  Things were great when she was younger, returning to her after being out all day was amazing. Frankie, Lenny, Dan, Mother and Jodi are in the loop. Edgar is staying with Frankie now, he was teaching Jen too many words we don't want her saying. Mother has some great advice, she has 4 children of her own, but Jennifer isn't just an average kid. We won't be able to contain her forever. Jennifer knows she needs to use the illusion generator if she leaves the house.

  “What happened to your door Jennifer?” I ask. She glares at me with her arms crossed. “Do you want a door on your room?” Still glaring at me she nods her head. “You're going to help me fix it then. Go to the storage room and get my tools, I'll show you how to fix a door.”

  The corner of her mouth raises at bit, she can't hide her smile. She scampers off to get my tools. The tool box is as long as she is tall, she easily holds it over her head though.

  “Ok, so let's look at what we have here. The door is in one piece, but it's not attached to the wall. How do we fix this?”

  She looks at the door frame and then the door. “The metal parts need to be screwed back in.”

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  “Correct. Look at the frame and tell me why we can't just do that.”

  She looks at the splintered frame. “The frames busted Dad.”

  “Correct, but not all the frame. We have a few options; we can replace the frame, or we can patch it. We don't have a replacement frame so let's patch it, start by unscrewing the hinges from the door.”

  As we fix the door Frankie comes up the stairs , heading straight to see Maria. After a minute she and him rush out, she looks upset. I want to call out but Jen is finally calm and focused, I don't want to disturb her. Frankie glances over as they leave. In the last 11 years Maria has never just taken off without saying anything.

  “Dad?”

  “Yes dear?”

  “We don't live like normal, do we?”

  “No, we don't.”

  “Why not?”

  “You're special, not like anyone else. You know how big Dan is, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You're stronger than him, even at your age. Your mother and I are stronger than most people as well. Being stronger than most scares people. If we decided to be mean to good people we could do a lot of harm to them.”

  She looks very puzzled. “Why would I want to be mean to other people?”

  She's so amazing, I hope she always hangs on to her beautiful innocence. I kiss her on the head.

  “So, word going around is you may have logged in to Dan's terminal and read up on taekwandoe.”

  She looks up at me with a little smile. “I did, Dad. Are you mad?”

  “No dear, you should have asked though.” 9 years old and hacking the illusion generator, tech I don't even fully understand. There is no way we're keeping her out of a computer terminal. “How about you show me what you learned after your door is fixed?”

  “Really???” Her eyes open wider than I've ever seen. For the rest of the project she is attentive and as helpful as can be. When we finish we head down to the courtyard out back.

  I yawn “Oh, I don't know dear, I had a busy day, I'm pretty tired from fixing the door. Maybe you can show me your moves another time...”

  “Daaaaaad!” She protests, I can't keep a straight face.

  “Ok, ok. Kick my hand.” I hold my hand over my head. She needs to learn she has limitations. She seems hesitant.

  “Dad, your hand is pretty high.”

  “I've seen you jump high before. It's Ok, I have you if you miss or can't get that high.”

  She takes a few steps back, runs and leaps. To my surprise she gets her foot up there, I grab her ankle, she instantly tries to kick me with her other heel, I grab that ankle as well. I have a mix of pride and concern over just how good she was at that.

  “Gotcha!” I say.

  She giggles as I hold her upside down and repeatedly punches me in the chest, I laugh.

  “Why're you tickling your dad, huh?”

  She squeals and continues to punch me in the chest like I'm a speed bag. She's a tad rough but I'm fine, she would probably be leaving bruises on Dan.

  “Ok, stop punching, I mean tickling.”

  “I pummeled you until you gave up dad!”

  She stops. I lift her up with my arms fully stretched so we're face to face with her hanging upside down.

  “That was a good kick. It's not practical though.” I go to put her down.

  “Wait. Drop me, I'll land on my feet.”

  “Are you sure you have this?”

  “Yup.”

  I let go, ready to grab her if she fumbles. She swings her feet under and lands on her feet.

  “Did I just see you drop my daughter upside down?” Maria says. She's smiling so I think I'm OK. It takes me a second to see in the low light, she looks like she was upset.

  “Let's go see your Mother.” I say. Jens face hardens, then she smiles. We walk over, Maria kneels down and looks at Jen and starts crying before holding Jen tight.

  Jen starts crying “I'm sorry I was bad mom.”

  “Oh, no no dear, that's fine. No, I'm not upset with you. Why don't you gently practice with Dan here. And be very gentle, he doesn't heal like the three of us, Ok?”

  “Ok mom.”

  “Stand over in the shadows, I don't want her to see us upset.” Maria says.

  “What's going on?”

  “Everything.” She starts to break down then composes herself.

  “What is it?”

  “I have a debt to repay to the Collective that can not wait any longer. I've been trying to delay it until Jen was older. I made a deal with them, to keep me alive. I agreed to serve as an envoy with them for 10 years. The genome fusion hasn't been keeping my sickness at bay. I've been having nanobots rebuild my whole body, but they can't keep up. I need to be at their medical bay for daily treatment, after a few years everything will be rebuilt and I'll be cured. Throughout all the testing they discovered I gave birth. They know about Jennifer now.”

  “We need to run.”

  “Where? I'll die if we run, even if you and Jen run you'll be looking over your shoulder. You won't be able to get off the island with the chip.”

  “No, this makes no sense, we have to protect Jennifer.”

  “The Collective is not the enemy. The Collective, Royals and I have been talking things over.”

  “Wait, what?” No, what is this? “Why was I not brought into this?”

  “I'm sorry, this agreement was made before us, before Jennifer.”

  “Have you been talking about Jennifer's future with them?”

  “Just let me explain...”

  “No... you've already decided, haven't you?” She's becoming more upset. “Well? You've already decided our daughter's future without consulting me. Tell me.”

  “It's not decided. The plan they are agreeable to is Jennifer is to be raised by Countess Danby. She's a scientist. Jen...”

  “What is it?”

  “The Collective, when a member joins them they have no past. They have a way to implant a memory permanently in a mind. They've shown it to me, Jen would have memories of a happy childhood with the Countess as her mother.”

  “What of her memories of us?”

  “If we do this, she'll have memories of a perfect childhood, she won't see she's special so the DNA enhancements will seem like a fluke.”

  “You didn't answer, what about us? She won't be with us while we enter another prison with the Collective for 10 years?”

  “You can't come with me.”

  This can't be real. What was the damn point of the last 10 years?

  “You should have told me.”

  “Would it have made a difference in how things went?”

  “No, but what we had wouldn't have been based on a lie.”

  “You damn well know it wasn't a lie!”

  “Do I? All I know is that you decided to tell me.” She looks really hurt by my words. I need to walk away before I say too much. “I'm going out, I'll be back when I'm back.”