‘I’m sorry, Stephen,’ said Laura. ‘I know this is difficult for you to hear. But you need to know everything.’
45
Two armed officers joined the two males and female in the room where Anton was being held prisoner. Anton remained in his protective crouch as they probed deeper into the reasons why he’d made the long and dangerous journey to Earth.
The red haired female took a step towards the containment unit, both officers shadowing her. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ she said to Anton. ‘We’re not interested in hurting you. We are your friends. I would like to know your name. I’d like to call you something other than Indigene. I’ll begin. My name is Daphne Gilchrist.’
Anton could sense the lies spilling from her mouth; he could see the tension and apprehension in the way she held herself. Then there was the palpable excitement coming from the old human. He wondered how this Gilchrist woman knew he was an Indigene.
‘Not interested in talking?’ Her tone became less inviting.
‘Perhaps it can’t communicate in the same way we can,’ said the younger male.
‘Ah, but it can. We have seen one of them talk quite freely with another human being. They have the same ability to learn languages, as we do.’ A puzzled look crossed her face. ‘In fact, I’m surprised they haven’t created their own by now.’
‘What if they have?’ said the younger male. ‘What if they can communicate without words?’
The female raised an eyebrow.
Anton continued his analysis of her. He could sense her desire to dominate the room and the males within it; she thrived on being in charge. But for all her experience, she’d missed the point the one called Billings had been astute enough to make.
The female snapped her attention back to Anton. ‘You can drop the charade now. I’m not buying it. I can keep calling you Species 31, but I would rather call you by your real name.’
Anton decided he’d taken things far enough; he figured there might be a better chance of getting information from them if he spoke out loud. ‘My name is Anton.’
‘Anton!’ The older male spoke up from the back of the room and clapped his hands together. ‘What an altogether human name. Not terribly surprising, I suppose, considering what stock you came from.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Anton straightened up.
The aged man squealed. ‘Did you see how fast he just moved there?’ ‘Marvellous advancements! Better than any design we could have come up with.’
Anton wondered if Stephen had been able to escape or whether they were holding him in a similar place. He wanted to ask, but they hadn’t once mentioned his name, false or real. It was possible they were still unaware that he was on the planet.
‘By the way, using the chips like that was a very clever thing to do, Bob Harris. I assume you had an accomplice?’ said the female.
No. They didn’t know Stephen was here. They were fishing for information. He was relieved. ‘Just some useful human who was careless with his identity chip, that’s all.’
‘So, why were you in such a hurry to get out of Dock 10 then? Our records show it was Colin Stipple who illegally commandeered the flight out with one of our best pilots on board. Who is he to you?’
‘Just someone who needed my help in return for a favour. A family member was committing termination, or so he said.’ Anton told the story as agreed. ‘He’d expected his travel to be curtailed when he returned here and he made a compelling argument. It seemed important, so I helped.’ How easily the lies flowed in the face of danger.
‘How very noble of you to help out our kind, considering what we tried to do to yours.’ The female watched him. Her cold, hard stare burrowed deep.
Anton could tell she was trying to read him: his facial expressions, the way he held his hands, how he stood. Anything that might reveal a hidden clue. Unlike Stephen, he bore no ill feelings towards humans, but now he understood why certain Indigenes set out to kill humans such as these.
The female smiled widely. She applauded his performance. ‘That’s a truly wonderful story. You are quite the little actor. Fortunately for you, when we spoke to the pilot, she backed up your version of events. Still can’t figure out why the bitch lied.’
‘I’m afraid it’s no story. It’s the truth.’
The older male stepped forward. ‘You still haven’t answered an important question. Why are you here on Earth?’
‘What do you want from me?’ said Anton, feeling impatient and nervous as the female inched closer to him. He waited for her to make a threatening move.
The older male chuckled, changing positions. The uniformed officers shadowed him. ‘What don’t we want from you?’
‘Here’s a better question,’ she said. ‘What is it that you want from us? You’re the one trespassing on our planet. You’re a risk to our national security. It concerns me that you’re even here at all. How did you figure out how to leave Exilon 5?’
Anton didn’t know what the female’s motives were. He could work out the younger male, but not her or the older male. He sensed that while it was important to keep them talking, he also needed to discover their motives for invading Exilon 5. ‘You’ve attempted to destroy our race. I think I should be more concerned about you. Do you hold no responsibility for your actions?’
‘Of course we do, but you cannot destroy what you already own,’ said his captor with the watery gaze. ‘You can only choose to discard. To destroy is to assume it belongs to someone else.’
Anton struggled to decipher their riddles without knowing all the facts. ‘Are you going to kill me?’ He’d gone into this mission knowing there was a good chance he might not return.
The female and older male laughed.
‘No, my dear boy,’ said the male. ‘What a waste that would be. I have much better plans for you.’
‘Care to share them?’ said Anton.
‘Of course not! Where would be the fun in that?’
46
‘Look,’ said Bill. ‘I know this is difficult for all of us to hear, let alone discuss. But I’m having trouble understanding exactly where Stephen fits into all of this.’
He was feeling wired. Yet he hadn’t had a coffee all day.
Laura sighed before continuing. ‘As I said, the genetic experiments were carried out long before the planet had even been discovered. From the files, it appears that around 2110, while engineers and ship designers were busy perfecting space travel, the World Government had almost perfected something of their own.’ Stephen held her gaze when she looked at him.
Bill glanced between Stephen and Laura. ‘Are you seriously telling us...?’ He turned away and ran his fingers through his hair. ‘No.’
‘Yes,’ said Laura. ‘They created a race that was capable of surviving on the planet in its original uninhabitable state. They’d given up hope of humans ever living there and without having discovered more exoplanets, they fell back on their contingency plan for the human race. In their mind, the Earth was beyond saving.’
Bill turned back around. Just as the last piece slotted into place, his original reasons for hating the Indigenes vanished. ‘Those fuckers were creating a new breed of human?’
‘Yes.’ Laura glanced at Stephen. ‘He is us, but just a better version of us.’
‘Shit.’ Bill let out a deep breath. He dropped his gaze to the floor.
In all this time, Stephen hadn’t moved. If it wasn’t for the intensity burning in his eyes, Bill wouldn’t have known the Indigene felt anything. Then, something else caught his attention about the story. He looked at Laura. It unnerved him to even ask it. ‘And what had they planned to do with the regular humans?’
‘That’s where it becomes difficult. It makes me sick just to think of it,’ said Laura. She drew in a deep breath before continuing. ‘Our future existence was being placed entirely in the hands of this superhuman race. What remained of the human race was going to be wiped out.’
‘Fuck!’ Even for Bill, and what he??
?d seen as an investigator, this was a lot to take in. He’d known about his employers’ shady past and present, but he never contemplated that they would take it this far.
Stephen took a slow, measured step forwards. His brown lens-covered eyes, noticeably strained, now sought out the truth. While Laura and Bill had become sidetracked discussing the plans for the people of Earth, Bill had forgotten about the man who stood before them: a man who’d been unwittingly caught up in a war that was not of his making.
‘How did I come into existence?’ said Stephen. ‘Where did I come from exactly? Please! I need to know.’
Laura continued. ‘In the early days, scientists had advertised for human test subjects to become part of their gene-splicing and manipulation therapy programmes. It was, of course, fully funded by the World Government.’
‘Another non-surprise,’ said Bill.
‘Some volunteered, but many didn’t. Without enough subjects to test, they had to resort to taking people from the street. At first, the tests were successful enough, or so they said. But neither the splicing nor manipulation techniques worked well in those who had inherited genetic diseases from their parents. In the end, their bodies successfully rejected the changes.
‘It was through trial and error alone that the scientists discovered that anomaly. Later on, when they trialled splicing in people of average intellect with clean DNA structures, the results improved slightly, but there was still little noticeable difference between the before and after test subjects. It wasn’t until they tested those with a superior IQ that the genetic splicing and manipulation worked perfectly with their genes. The work done also had a boosting effect on their brain’s ability to learn. Take doctors, engineers and professors. Professions with a high IQ. The tests seemed to supercharge their skills somehow.’
Bill had always suspected there was something different, or special, about the indigenous race on Exilon 5. He just hadn’t been quite sure what that was, until now. ‘So, there really is a race of super-intelligent beings on Exilon 5?’
‘You only have to look at Stephen to know that’s the case.’
‘What’s your IQ, Stephen?’ said Bill.
‘We don’t use human measurements to define our intelligence, but if I was to compare it to your scale, it would be close to two hundred and seventy.’
Bill let out a low whistle. He looked at the Indigene he once regarded as his enemy. While Stephen might still pose a threat, at that moment all he saw was a man whose history had been torn to shreds. He was a man who, suddenly, didn’t fit anywhere.
‘So, Stephen is human?’
‘Yes and no. You see, Stephen is less than fifty years old. Am I right?’ Laura looked at him. He nodded. ‘So, essentially he was the product of two superhumans. He’s a true indigenous species of the planet. According to the files, those older than fifty would have lived ordinary lives as humans at some stage, since the experiments were only completed at that point.’
Stephen gasped.
‘What is it?’ said Laura, frowning.
‘Our oldest Central Council members are well over fifty years old. Are you telling me they were once your kind of human?’
‘Yes. I’m afraid that’s probably the case.’
He shook his head. ‘But it’s not possible. They have specific memories of being born, of growing up on the planet, and of a life before the one we have now. How can that be?’
‘When the early superhumans were created, their memories were overwritten with new ones. The scientists rewired the neural pathways. That’s why they wouldn’t remember their old lives. The government scientists painstakingly created a new existence for these people so they would adapt to the new planet. It worked like a dream as far as I can tell. Because of your age, Stephen, your memories are real. Any memories occurring earlier than fifty years ago are most likely false.’
‘So why is the government trying to kill the Indigenes if they are just like us?’ said Bill.
Laura pulled the band out of her hair. She ruffled it with her hand and tucked it behind her ears. ‘Their motives seem to have been more innocent at the start. While putting all their hopes for survival into this new race, they accidentally stumbled upon a way to alter the gas composition on Exilon 5. When they realised that the planet could house ordinary humans, they knew one race would be sacrificed for another. When the explosions happened, it wasn’t just to terraform the planet, it was to destroy their creation. Somewhere in the files, it’s mentioned that neither race could find out about the other.’
‘Pity for them that we did more than survive. We adapted even further,’ said Stephen.
‘He’s right,’ said Laura. ‘The first superhumans who relocated to the planet resembled us, but were more primitive in behaviour. Their skin was as sturdy as it is now, but their outward appearance was more like how you and I look.’ She addressed Stephen. ‘I imagine it was the years of living underground that altered your DNA and made your appearance what it is today.’
‘Yes. The toughened skin,’ said Stephen. ‘But how?’
Laura tried to hide her discomfort; the events were taking their toll on her.
Bill placed a hand on her shoulder. He could feel her shaking through her clothes. ‘I know this is a lot to explain, but please continue. We need to know everything,’ he said.
She nodded. ‘The genetic manipulation involved experimentation with other species’ DNA. Animals, mostly. Think of the toughened exterior of a rhinoceros, for example, or the night vision of a nocturnal animal, or the regenerative properties of a lizard. They tried various permutations, trying to alter the human code so it would mimic the more interesting properties of some of these animals.’
‘What do they plan to do with us?’ said Stephen.
‘I don’t know. They can’t carry out any more explosions on the surface, not with a small number of transferees already living on Exilon 5.’
‘What then?’
‘I don’t know. Look, I didn’t get an idea of how this was going to play out. All I can tell you about are the facts on the micro file.’
‘Sorry for pushing you so hard,’ said Bill, glancing at Stephen. ‘We both appreciate what you’ve done here. Do you still have the file?’
‘Yes. I was going to get rid of it, but for some insane reason I kept it around. It’s yours if you want it.’
‘This transfer you speak of,’ said Stephen. ‘When did it begin?’
‘Around twenty-five years ago,’ said Bill. ‘Why?’
‘And when did it slow down? Far fewer of you have since settled on the planet.’
‘I don’t know exactly. A few years ago. Why? What are you thinking?’
‘Well, it seems to correlate with the time that some of our young were captured. Could it be that their plans have changed?’
‘Anything’s possible,’ said Bill.
‘So what’s our next move in all of this?’ said Laura.
‘For one thing,’ said Bill, ‘it’s not safe for us to stay here. Laura, you’ll have to come with me. Leave your apartment, your current life behind.’
‘What? No! I have a job. A career. I can’t just leave it!’
‘If they find out what you know, you won’t be alive long enough to enjoy it.’
‘You don’t understand. I need to get on the transfer list to Exilon 5. If I disappear now, I lose that chance.’
‘I expect all future transfers will be placed on hold, anyway. There are more pressing issues at play here. You need to decide which side you’re on.’
‘I’m on this side, of course! Why can’t I stay where I am? Wouldn’t I be more useful to you if I was on the inside?’
Bill couldn’t see how it would work. She would be in too much danger.
‘I need to get back to Exilon 5,’ said Stephen. ‘I need to tell the Indigenes what I’ve learned here. We have much more to fear than I’d first anticipated. We need to be ready for when they come.’
Bill looked at him, compassion replacing t
he anger that had consumed him for so long. ‘Of course. Getting you safely off this planet is our first priority.’
‘I have another favour to ask of you, Bill,’ said Stephen. ‘I didn’t come here alone. My friend Anton was captured so that I could escape. I need you to find out if he’s still alive.’
‘If the World Government has him, he may not be.’
‘I’m prepared for that. But I would still like you to check.’
‘I’ll see what I can find out,’ said Bill.
‘Thank you.’
Bill ran a hand through his hair and stopped to touch the bump that remained after his fall.
‘How’s your head?’ said Stephen.
‘How do you know about...?’ His expression changed as he realised. ‘That was you?’
Stephen gave a small smile. ‘Actually, it was Anton who convinced me to help. I’m glad I did now.’
Bill stared at him. A deep yawn took him by surprise. He had been so tense about his return to Earth and meeting with Gilchrist that he’d pushed the exhaustion away. This heavy input of new information was letting it all back in. ‘Do you mind if I take a quick nap on your bed?’ he said to Laura.
She nodded. ‘Take all the time you need. But before you go, there’s something else I need to give you.’ She went into her bedroom and retrieved three envelopes.
He stared down at them, puzzled. ‘What are they?’
‘Letters from your wife.’
He stared at the envelopes. ‘Where did you get these? What do they say? I mean, did you read them?’ He looked up at Laura, swallowing back a lump in his throat.
She shook her head. ‘I was given them the same time as the micro file. I can’t decipher them. They’re coded, I think. Just take them.’ She shoved them closer to his hand.
He grabbed the letters. His mouth set into a tight line. ‘Wake me up in an hour. We can’t stay here.’
Bill closed the bedroom door behind him, clutching the envelopes to his chest. He felt different, less angry somehow. There were still questions to be answered but he needed more time to think. He didn’t know if he could completely trust the pair in the next room but he was now certain of one thing: the Indigenes were not his enemy.
He kicked off his boots and lay on the bed. The envelopes felt like an extra weight in his hand. He brushed his fingers over the tops of them, brought them up to his nose, took a sniff. It was faint, but he thought he could smell Isla’s perfume.