Echo Page 20

  Her hands came around the sides of his hips. Tommy shifted George in his arms so she couldn’t get under his shirt. This had never felt wrong when he was a boy. But now he kept thinking of the way Amanda looked at him, and he knew Dr. Schon would never look into his eyes with that kind of want.

  “I don’t want to become a woman, Dr. Schon,” Tommy said, dropping his register as deep as it would go.

  “You’re using that voice again,” she frowned, yanking her hands off his body.

  “Because it’s how I’m supposed to sound.” He turned to face her, forcing her to see the masculinity of his features. Taking a deep breath, Tommy hugged George one more time, seeking the courage he needed. “Dr. Schon, I quit.”

  “You’re making a mistake,” Schon warned. “No one else will give you a chance like I would.”

  “I can’t be here and pretend I feel nothing when I watch you torture your test subjects,” Tommy said, stroking the back of George’s head. “I humanize them. I humanize myself. I can’t come in here every day and have you looking at me like a well-trained rat.”

  “I don’t talk to my rats… boy,” she said, stuttering before the last word. She’d blanked on his name.

  “You do. You just think we don’t understand,” he retorted. “I remember everything you ever told me. You used to tell me you loved me. That I was your favorite. That I was prettiest. That you would get me extra treats if I could help you win your stupid lab bets or eavesdrop on the right conversations. Did you even know I had a name?”

  “Get out of my lab, boy,” she snarled.

  Tommy squared his shoulders. “My name is Tommy Fisher.”

  Then he ran out, still holding George in his arms.

  Danny’s heart was racing by the time they made it back to the Eastwind. He dropped Morrigan into one of the chairs and hurried to the kitchen to check their dwindling coffee supply. His hands were shaking so much, he decided to brew a pot from used grounds. They didn’t need the caffeine so much as the comfort of the cup.

  “Do you need a shower?” Sky asked Morrigan, cradling her face. Her dark skin had a grayish hue. Something was definitely wrong.

  “Coffee,” she said, her fingers pumping, her teeth chattering.

  “You were so chipper an hour ago. Let’s take this off and see if it helps,” Sky said, sliding the comm bracelet off of Morrigan’s wrist.

  “It’s not the bracelet’s fault,” Lula said. She’d followed them back and instantly started snooping.

  Danny set a cup on the table and filled it halfway with coffee. Morrigan usually liked assorted creams and flavoring, but all they had here was sugar. Still, she picked up the cup and drank it black.

  “There’s a virus going around and Kyan is patient zero,” Sky said. “From what Avery said, most of the sick work in the botany lab, so they’ve had more contact with her and the plant samples than with us.”

  “That doesn’t mean we’re not responsible. Both Hawk and Danny skipped half the decon process, and you all spent several hours on the deck with the Grangers before coming inside,” Morrigan said, her hands trembling as she held her cup to her lips. “Now we’re trapped in here with him. With them. With…”

  “Morrigan, you were very happy to be locked in with Michael last night,” Sky pointed out.

  “I know. I thought I could stay here. Practice medicine again. Get that second chance that I’ll never have in Quin. I could learn so much,” Morrigan said, her eyes watering.

  “So why the sudden urge to leave?” Danny probed.

  “I’m confused,” she squeaked, wiping her tears on her sleeve and taking another sip of coffee.

  “Do you want to talk, or do you want us to leave you alone with your thoughts?” Danny asked.

  “I need to talk. I need someone to tell me I’m not…” she trailed off, her eyes glazing a little. Danny waved the coffee pot under her nose and that brought her back. Morrigan took the pot and filled her cup to the top.

  “We had sex,” she said.

  “Obviously,” Sky said. Danny shot her a withering look.

  “It was unexpected. Spontaneous,” Morrigan said, tugging her braids.

  “Was this last night or this morning?” Sky asked.

  “Almost as soon as Dr. Schon left us,” Morrigan said. “Then again later that night. We tried to keep quiet. And then Dr. Schon came back, and we decided not to be quiet, because she needs to hear Michael. We started, and it was exciting, but then his back started to hurt. So, I tried to stop.”

  “You both seemed pretty happy when you came out of the bedroom,” Sky said.

  “He didn’t want to stop, but I… I did,” Morrigan said. “It kind of hit me that I’m not on birth control. He’s certainly not. After Nola, I’m primed for pregnancy. And I said ‘Michael, I don’t want to get pregnant.’ And he said ‘Of course you do. That’s why we’re doing this.’ And it’s kind of hazy, but I think I do remember agreeing to let him get me pregnant. After Schon agreed not to kill him, and then not to remap him… it was kind of a condition of his personhood.”

  “We don’t have birth control on Oriana either,” Danny said. It was the first time it had occurred to Danny that they should have short-term methods on board.

  “That’s not why I want to leave,” Morrigan said. She savored the coffee in her mouth before swallowing. “It seems whenever I’m near Michael—whenever I see him—all I can think about is him. I know I’m supposed to be concentrating on Amanda’s care, but I can’t hold onto a thought. But then he falls asleep, and I feel like I’m racing to catch up with my work before I pass out, too. Didn’t you say he had some kind of mind-control power?”

  “Over Tommy,” Sky said. “Tommy senses when Michael needs him, and he shows up.”

  “Now he needs me. He wants me,” Morrigan said. “It takes everything in me to look away.”

  “You think he raped you? You think he used mind control to force you to have sex with him?” Danny asked, his trepidation growing. There’d been more than one red flag he’d dismissed in his desperation to get the help of the Cordovan doctors.

  “I don’t know,” Morrigan said, looking into her cup. “I did have a crush on him that first day. Before he ever…”

  “Before he ever thought of you that way,” Sky finished. “He doesn’t understand sex the way you do. He was raised in a lab. You’ve been coming on so strong, it’s a wonder he can keep his head on straight. He doesn’t have the experience. He doesn’t have the words—”

  “So, tell me I’m being paranoid!” Morrigan shouted, smacking the table. “Tell me that somewhere deep down, I desperately want to have his child and this hour is the odd one out. Tell me I’m crazy in love, and there’s no mind control necessary.”

  Danny exchanged a look with Sky. His instincts told him to side with Morrigan, and it bothered him that Sky was making excuses for Michael.

  “We’ll keep him away from you,” Danny promised. “You’re not paranoid. You’re not crazy. Whether he understands his power or not, it sounds like you might be a victim of it.”

  Morrigan shivered again, absorbing the information, and Danny wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. As long as Michael was confined to his home, and they kept Morrigan away, they could sort this out. But that also meant Michael wouldn’t have any new language skills to show off at the inquiry deciding his personhood.

  “Yesterday, when Ryndam separated us, I felt like she was controlling me,” Danny said, sitting at the table across from Morrigan, shuddering at the memory. “I couldn’t talk, and I could only move where she wanted me to. Michael might just be an echo like Amanda, and he might not have any more control over it than she does.”

  “This is unbelievable,” Lula murmured, startling Danny. He’d forgotten that she was still there, listening to every word. “So, you did try to take Michael for his power!”

  “We agreed to help because he was injured and no one here would treat him,” Danny said.

  “Lula, is the Deputy Prime
Minister a hybrid?” Sky asked.

  “No,” Lula said. “No clone can be. My mom says we’ve been trying for decades. Every template was built off a strong hybrid, and that’s the one skill that never translates. Even when we blend for originals, they don’t show power.”

  “Where do you get the live cells for the healing veins?” Sky asked.

  “Each device has a few live cells from the preserved brain of the last original. Her name was Eris Ryndam,” Lula said. “Cloned cells don’t work. By the time we realized it, there were only two original hybrids left in the dome. Eris was a healer. That’s why our medical technology is so advanced. All our other tech we figure out on our own.”

  “What about the other original? Did you preserve any parts of her?” Sky asked.

  “Merrick Dansfield,” Lula said. “A male. A telepath. He is preserved, but we never were able to develop any technology to use his power. Healing is outward. You can get a rod to read a mind, but that doesn’t mean the rod can tell you what it saw.”

  “What did Dansfield look like?” Sky asked warily.

  “If you’re thinking Michael’s a Dansfield clone, you’re wrong,” Lula said. “I happen to know Michael’s DNA came from a source outside Cordova.”

  “Nola,” Danny murmured. Could Corin be right?

  “No. A traveler like you. I don’t know if she had the baby a few days before or a few days after she got here. Mom won’t say,” Lula said, intrigued by the mystery. “There’s all sorts of bad stories because she murdered five people in one night. They’re never going to grant Michael personhood, no matter what you do, because they’re all waiting for him snap and go on a killing spree like her. That’s why he gets beat down so much.”

  Sky clenched her teeth, hating the casual excuse for Michael’s abusers. “If someone’s figured out how to use the telepathy rods, it wouldn’t even be Michael’s fault.”

  “Could Michael be echoing the power of these mind-reading rods?” Danny asked.

  “It was just an example. Mind-reading rods don’t exist,” Lula said, rolling her eyes.

  “Amanda echoed something. Either it’s Michael’s power or it’s something else,” Danny said. “Is part of Dansfield’s brain still preserved? Kept alive?”

  “Of course. Dansfield and Ryndam are kept in separate locations and moved around between a few different buildings to keep the location a secret,” Lula said. “Today would be Building Two for the Dansfield brain. It’s really bizarre and I wish they’d just let it go. We can get by on our engineering skills without the help.”

  Morrigan fought back tears and stared into her drink. “When can we go back to Oriana?”

  “Not for a few days. They’ve put the gate in lockdown mode,” Sky answered, pacing the kitchen again. She felt trapped, and now so did Danny.

  Morrigan put her head down and cried.

  “We need to talk to Oriana,” Danny said, his own armor cracking.

  “Give me the bracelet again,” Lula said, holding out her hand. Danny slid off the device and handed it to her, and she pulled a tiny toolkit from her pocket.

  “We need to talk to them legally,” Danny said to Sky. “Talk to the Prime Minister and get our communication restored.”

  “And we need to talk to Michael. Make sure he understands what he’s doing,” Sky said gravely. “You stay here with Morrigan. I’ll be in touch.”

  Morrigan lifted her head and sat straight. She looked calm, but tired, and she smelled the coffee without drinking.

  “Any news about Amanda?” she asked.

  “No. Dr. Chelsea said she’d call as soon as Amanda’s awake. Apparently, with the progress Ian has made, her treatment will be done before the gate opens again,” Danny said. Morrigan didn’t seem to be listening. Her eyes were open, but her expression glazed. “Why don’t you get some rest?”

  “I need to get back to Michael.” She rose from the table, slowly, like she was sleepwalking.

  “Morrigan?” Danny warned, scooting back his chair. “Oh, Zive. She’s like a zombie.”

  Sky caught her at the door, blocking her path. “You’re staying here.”

  “I need to get back to Michael,” Morrigan repeated.

  “Morrigan,” Danny said, coming behind her. “Give me a hug before you go.”

  Morrigan gave him a perfunctory hug and Danny squeezed hard, immobilizing her. The moment Morrigan realized he had no intention of letting her go, she screeched and fought. Sky knocked her out with a low-level blast of her grav-gun, and Danny lowered her to the floor.

  “That was creepy,” Lula said. “I didn’t believe you before, but that was definitely a mind-control kind of creepy.”

  “I’ll talk to Michael first. Maybe he can convince Ryndam for us,” Sky said, her voice quaking as she realized how guilty Michael might be.

  27

  Tommy was running out of places to hide. He couldn’t go to his mother’s home because Michael was there. He couldn’t go to the library with George. He couldn’t go back to the specimen room. Ever.

  When he kept his head down, Tommy knew how to be invisible, but with George in his arms, there was no way to hide. It was only a matter of time before Dr. Schon reported him for stealing a test subject, if she cared at all about losing the soon-to-be cadaver.

  Desperate for refuge, he knocked on Libby’s door. She was his best friend, after George. Libby opened the door and scowled. Normally, Tommy adored the similarity between her and Dr. Schon, but now it repulsed him.

  “What is that?” she demanded, her nose wrinkling. George had urinated in fear when they’d left the lab building, and his fur was not resistant to stains and smells like clothing was.

  “This is George,” Tommy said, stroking George’s fur. He’d dreamed about introducing Libby to George. “Can you help us?”

  “You get out of here right now, Tommy Fisher, or I’m calling the police!”

  “Please, Libby. I have nowhere else to go.”

  “You can’t keep showing up here and stalking me and creeping into my bedroom at night,” she cried. “And now, you bring this… thing!”

  “You’re my friend,” Tommy said, confused. He inched toward her door. They needed to have this discussion inside, before the neighbors saw him with George.

  “We shared one class,” Libby seethed, her cheeks getting red. “I said hello to you one time, and it was a mistake. If you don’t leave right now, I’ll see to it that your ‘friend’ is terminated, and you are forced to watch. Maybe then you’ll get it through your thick skull that I am not your friend!”

  She slammed her door in his face and Tommy stood there a moment, stunned. They’d sat together on the swings the other day, talking and laughing. Just before Michael cut his face. Before Michael made Tommy cut his face. It was one thing not to trust himself when he was with Michael. It was another thing entirely to doubt his relationships with others. But it suddenly became clear that Libby had never been there. Libby was the fantasy that Michael gave him and she disappeared whenever Michael needed him.

  Tommy looked at the ape in his arms. Was this frightened, abused animal, the same friend who had given him strength as a child, or another fantasy?

  “Where do we go now?”

  The rain blasted the mountainside and Hawk laid on the Observation Deck with Corin nestled to his side. The wind blew leaves off the trees, and some of them stuck to the hull. His head and body ached from his most recent attempt to punch a message through to Danny and Sky, but they’d been unable to get through. The city had locked down. Fortunately, whatever had kept Oriana cloaked with it had vanished.

  Corin sighed and turned off the Virclutch. A message had come from Nola, and now that they’d been ejected from the cloak, they were getting the regular broadcasts as well. The first message said simply ‘no sanctioned DNA trade.’ The second was a list of people who had gone missing around the time of Michael’s birth. None seemed connected to Corin and Amar’s bloodline. But now they had a new question: were any
of the missing people hybrid? Corin didn’t want to ask, and Hawk wondered if it was because of the third message he’d gotten. That one, he hadn’t shared.

  Chase popped his head into the room and tickled Hawk’s knee. “Come on, boys. Let’s play hockey.”

  Hawk wriggled and rolled onto his knees, knowing that if he didn’t move quickly, Chase would tickle him more. Chase was bright and friendly, and his good nature improved every day his life wasn’t threatened. He didn’t mind being stuck in the middle of snake-infested forests, now that his hand was better, and he could devote his time to tinkering. He had a routine: workout, chores, tinkering, afternoon walk, evening games. It reminded Hawk of the day-to-day boredom he used to feel in Rocan.

  “Chase, I can barely lift my head,” Hawk groaned. “Get Saskia and Tray to play with you.”

  “Saskia’s a little under the weather. It seems she got a cold in Cordova,” Chase said. “Hero needs some live entertainment, so whoever’s on Tray’s team gets to win.”

  “I’m not sure I can pull off ‘winning’ right now,” Hawk laughed, letting his legs dangle through the hatch. His head pounded, and Corin gripped his arms to keep him from falling into the ward room. Chase took pity, catching him around the waist and setting him in a chair.

  Then a proximity alarm sounded. Between the rain, the falling trees, and the local wildlife the alarm had gone off a few times, but Tray had worked out most of the kinks.

  “Did they get out of the city?” Hawk asked.

  “Sky would have called,” Chase said, checking the console. The sudden change in the cloak had happened hours ago, and they’d heard nothing from the crew. The city had sent a vague message that they were quarantining for three days, which was not satisfying at all.

  “Someone’s outside!” Saskia said, shuffling in and activating an external camera they’d installed. Her skin was ashy, but she had her weapon strapped to her hip. The camera was in a box to protect it from the rain, and in this weather, it was difficult to see out, but there was definitely a person approaching the ship on foot. The person wore the white clothes of a Cordovan and had long, dark hair. Her body was hunched, and she carried something large in her arms.