“One o’clock, now three o’clock,” he said in a firm, raspy voice.
Once more, the strange mix of contradictions in him puzzled Eden. His cat-like features pulsed with energy, like a jaguar stalking its prey. And yet, unmistakable human intelligence burned in the icy green eyes.
A laser blast crackled against a window and sent the vehicle into a sickening slip. Eden let out a shrill scream.
“Quiet,” Bramford said, flicking his gaze at her.
In the split second his attention had turned, a second, more powerful blast hit them. The aircraft lurched out of control, spinning in a downward spiral.
Blessed Mother Earth.
“Six o’clock!” Bramford said.
They continued to corkscrew down towards the inferno and their probable death. Had Bramford lost his mind, after all? Eden wondered. Her stomach climbed up into her throat and she fought the urge to scream again. Must not distract him, she thought, followed by the startling realization that her life was in his beastly hands.
For as long as Eden could remember death had lingered in the shadows. Now that it knocked on her door, she realized, what a waste. She’d barely lived.
Bramford’s thunderous voice shook the small cabin as the burning earth drew near. “Twelve o’clock, now!”
Their sharp reversal sent them flying past the enemy fighter. A loud explosion followed as it shot into the flames.
Eden collapsed, trembling. My dear, your oxy level is near depletion. You need immediate help. For once they were so right.
“We’re clear,” Bramford said, never betraying any emotion.
“For Earth’s sake, you could have killed us!” she said.
“Be calm, Daught,” her father said.
Bramford leveled his steely gaze at her. “Give me his lab coat.”
Eden hesitated, uncomprehending.
He dipped his head towards her father’s leg. “A tourniquet.”
“Oh.”
Again, this mysterious creature was one step ahead of her and her father. Was he a man trapped inside a beastly form, or a beast with a human mind? Eden suspected even he might not know the answer.
She gingerly slipped the coat off of her father. Bramford snatched it from her with an impatient huff. He used sharp teeth—teeth that could kill a man—to rip off a long strip. Then he flung it at her dismissively, without a word or look in her direction.
“Thanks,” Eden muttered.
She tied it around her father’s leg, alarmed by the amount of bleeding. He groaned but kept his eyes trained on Bramford. Even now, at death’s door, he appeared to be distracted by possible solutions and heady calculations.
“Where are we going?” she asked Bramford. “My father needs help.”
“Far away,” he said.
“Out of bounds?”
He turned to stare out the window, his silence impenetrable.
Eden sat back, wrapped up in her thoughts like her companions, as the jet zoomed past the fire zone and into the dark skies. A hundred questions filled her head. Mostly, if they flew out of bounds, how would they survive without the Uni-Gov to take care of them? She never thought she would miss it but she couldn’t imagine a single night without its oppressive but sustaining presence.
She stole a glance at Bramford, trying to guess what he was thinking. She felt a twinge of compassion as she considered how dramatically his life had turned. And something else also warmed her heart. She traced his broad chest down to slim hips and muscled thighs. The raw animal power coiled within him, just waiting to explode, fascinated her.
Eden found her body tilting towards his. Maybe it was illogical for a Pearl to be drawn to such a dangerous creature, but she wanted to touch him.
His eyes cut over to her. She jerked back and felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. She heard him grunt, as she turned away. But what did it mean? Watch out, I eat girls like you for breakfast?
Soon, she saw the huge sign for Bramford Industries glowing in the dark above an airfield. At the end of the tarmac, feverish activity swirled around a stealth scramjet, which was capable of hypersonic speeds. You either had to be in the military or as powerful as Bramford to own one. Or as he used to be.
Eden heaved a sigh of relief as they landed with a feather touch. Immediately, Bramford scooped up her father and swept outside, heading for the terrifying jet.
“We’re not going in that, are we?” she asked, hurrying after them.
“Come,” Bramford said.
She hesitated. They wouldn’t be safe anywhere on this godforsaken planet so why not stay there, on the ground?
She watched Bramford climb the stairway to the jet’s cabin, taking the steps two at a time. Her poor father dangled like a bug over his shoulder. Bramford’s bare feet pounded the metal steps. His muscular legs flexed with each leap. The magnificent torso swayed. Like a star-struck fan, Eden imagined he could do anything—even crush the huge aircraft in his hands.
“What’s the matter with you, Eden?” Bramford yelled.
Exactly. What did she care if he was powerful or even sexy? More than ever, she resented him. Only her concern for her father pushed her to follow him.
A uniformed flight attendant appeared in the doorway to the cabin. Her dark face tightened at the sight of Bramford.
He barked at her. “He’s been lasered. Get medical aid.”
“Yes, sir,” the attendant said, hurrying inside.
Eden realized with amazement that Bramford assumed her father’s bloody leg had shocked the attendant, not Bramford’s grotesque condition. Maybe he didn’t know how strange he looked or else he had forgotten. Even now, as this monstrous creature, he probably felt no different on the inside.
Inside, Eden was never a Pearl. Sometimes at twilight, before she opened her eyes, before the damning critic in her head reminded her how ugly she was, she felt normal. Then she felt like the Real Eden.
But how would Bramford feel when he looked in a mirror or when he saw the damming looks in others’ eyes? Maybe now he would know how it felt to be judged by your appearance.
As soon as Eden stepped into the cabin, the ship’s engines began to whirr. She froze, painfully aware that the already slim odds of anyone ever seeing the Real Eden, the one inside, would slide to zero when they left. Happiness was a faraway island she would never reach. She turned around, thinking of running.
“Sit down, Eden,” Bramford called.
The stairway folded inside. The door closed with a final thud. Her chance was gone.
She plodded down the aisle, past his private alcove on the starboard side. Already, he’d turned his attention away from her. Dismissed, as usual.
Plush upholstery in the company’s red and black colors covered several clusters of couches and chairs for about a dozen passengers. What would become of Bramford’s empire now that he had become a science experiment gone wrong? If an albino could raise terror in the hearts of man, imagine the reaction to Bramford. Being different was the kiss of death, which meant he was a marked man.
Exhausted, Eden crumbled into a chair beside her father. She nearly cried with relief when she saw the attendant fit an oxy-cap onto his head. Thank you, Mother Earth.
Her hands trembled as she pulled down a cap from the overhead compartment. Although it was larger than her custom job, it clicked into place. Hurry, Eden thought, desperate for the numb kick. She’d experienced more emotion in a single night than she had in her whole dismal life.
The attendant cast a disdainful glance at her. Her name was embroidered in fine script on the black jacket. Daisy. Eden followed her gaze, taking in her torn party dress and the disgusting streaks of white skin that showed through her worn coating.
“The Moon Dance,” was all she could muster.
Daisy gave a curt nod, seemingly satisfied.
Eden guessed that Daisy was middle-aged like her, though maybe a few years older. The white dot on her forehead labeled her as mated. Despite her expensive, polished dark coating
and the superior look Daisy tried to achieve, Eden knew she was a Pearl. It was just a feeling, though an unshakeable one. As if she smelled the attendant’s deep, underlying fear. But how had a Pearl gotten such a cushy job?
Daisy laid a blanket over Eden’s father lap. “I’ll be back to help you, as soon as we hit Mach twenty,” she said, and hurried behind a curtain near the cockpit.
The walls seemed to close in around Eden, as the scramjet blasted off. A dark, unfathomable void pressed against the window beside her.
In a soft whisper, her mother’s usual advice came to her.
—Breathe, Eden. Let your stomach rise like a balloon. Then release the air slowly. Let the breath carry your awareness through the body. You can do it. Stay in the moment.
—I can’t, Mother.
—Of course you can. It’s only natural. Animals breathe that way.
That had confused Eden. As if animals were better than humans.
Why hadn’t her mother understood how much terror she felt in the moment? Rather than stay in it, Eden desperately wanted to escape. And right now, she wanted to forget that she was trapped with beastly Bramford, rocketing into the unknown.
THE DULL HAZE of the oxy flowing through Eden couldn’t tamp down her anxiety. She tried to ignore the data streaming into her mind. She didn’t want to know how far above the earth the scramjet flew or how fast it headed south. Just as she suspected, their destination was out of bounds, and therefore not given. Even that she tried to ignore by repeating her silent mantra over and over.
I’m a stone in a cool, dark cave.
Somehow, high up in the stratosphere, the image failed to soothe her. She never thought she would long to be back in the Combs.
Diagonally across the cabin, she saw Daisy hand a black case to Bramford. She seemed careful not to draw too near and left quickly. Bramford popped open the case and studied a black screen. It was an old-fashioned computer, Eden realized. Probably stowed on board in case another meltdown burned out the World-Band.
She watched, fascinated, as Bramford’s sharp nails clicked against the keyboard. She’d never seen anyone use the archaic manual method. Then she eyed his hands and realized he’d lost his Life-Band ring. Probably when his fingers had enlarged.
Poor Bramford, cut off from the constant direction of his inner voice. To Eden, it seemed like a fate worse than death.
And yet, he appeared calm, even intent, as he worked. She imagined him shifting money and resources to their destination. He might buy a temporary reprieve, but even in the dreamy wash of oxy she knew it was only a matter of time before they met their doom.
A minute later, Daisy returned with a first aid kit. “Ready, Doctor Newman?” she said, kneeling beside him.
“What?” Then, as if remembering his wound, he waved a hand over it. “Proceed as you think best.”
Daisy carefully cut away the pant leg and began to dress the wound. Eden gagged at the sight of the angry, oozing mess.
“It’s only blood, Daught.”
Always a failure in Father’s eyes. What on Blessed Earth would he think of her colossal betrayal? She’d cost them everything. How could he ever forgive her?
“I’m afraid we left in a rush,” Daisy said. “There’s no medicine aboard.”
“But we can get some when we land, can’t we?” Eden said.
“It’s doubtful.”
“Why? Where are we going?” A horrible possibility struck her. “Don’t tell me there won’t be any oxy, either?”
“We’ll land in approximately two hours.” She tidied her supplies. “I’m sorry I can’t do more.”
“But—”
Daisy jerked her head towards Bramford, silencing Eden, then headed back to her station.
Eden slumped in her seat, muttering. “No oxy, no meds?”
“In that case, I estimate a high probability of gangrene,” her father said. “The most elegant solution would be to amputate the leg. No impairment to any major body system and my odds for survival would increase.”
“How can you even say that?”
“Bramford needs me, don’t you see?”
She shook her head angrily. “You’re insane.”
“Wait and see, Daught.”
“There’s nothing to see. There’s never going to be anything to see ever again. If your head wasn’t in the clouds you would see that.” But you don’t even see me.
The shaggy eyebrows arched. “Only forward momentum exists; the past is gone. The best course of action would be to consider this an unexpected adventure.”
“I was hoping to make it to my eighteenth birthday.”
Her father sighed, his disappointment clear. “I’ll insist Bramford send you back when we land.”
“I’m not leaving you alone with…that.”
“Bramford is the same, essentially.”
“If you believe that, you’re crazier than I thought.”
He adjusted his glasses, looking over at his prototype. Eden studied Bramford, too, riveted by his lean, muscled body, too large for the chair to contain.
“His appearance is undeniably altered,” her father said. “And yet, it’s safe to say his reasoning remains fully intact. In fact, the results are far superior to any projections. To adapt to such a degree and retain man’s mental capacity—why, it’s a lucky break, worth any price.”
“Even our lives, Father?” My life?
He looked at her, wide-eyed. “But Daught, this is science.”
Did he also think of her mother’s passing as just a blip on the evolutionary scene? She recalled his cold-hearted manner on that fateful day. He hadn’t even said goodbye to her mother. Sometimes Eden felt she didn’t know him at all.
He shut his eyes, his face taut with pain. When the wave subsided he began again. “I’ve reworked the calculations and deduced that the spike in heat in the laboratory caused over-expression in the affected genes, thus accelerating the transformation.”
“Can you reverse the process?” Eden said, feeling the weight of her guilt.
“Hmmm. It might have been possible to reverse a minor adaptation, as was planned. But at this advanced stage, I estimate a reversal would cause fatal damage to the subject’s internal systems.”
No turning back for Bramford? “Won’t he be furious?”
Her father waved away the question. “This is what’s so exciting. We don’t know what to expect. Bramford is highly unpredictable in his current adaptation.”
“You mean he might become even more animal-like?”
“We can’t predict what latent genes might be activated. As I said, we have to wait and see.”
“Or not,” Eden said pointedly.
“What are you saying?”
She leaned close and whispered. “Why risk our lives for Bramford?”
Her father looked stricken. “But I’m responsible for him, Daught.”
“You threatened to kill him today.”
“It was a bluff.” He pulled the syringe from his shirt pocket. “Only a sedative, you see? I would never hurt him.”
“But you said he’s unpredictable. He might kill us.” She paused to let the idea sink in. “Maybe we could cut a deal: Bramford for our freedom. It’s not too late.”
“What? With Jamal?”
“Never,” Eden said, once more worrying her father would discover her connection to him. “You must know someone in science at the Uni-Gov level who could help us.”
“And what makes you think I’d want such a deal?”
She threw up her hands; her voice grew shrill. “Why can’t you understand? It’s our only option. We have to give up Bramford.”
In a flash, the beast leapt beside her with a terrifying roar. Her eyes traveled from his strong thighs, thick as tree trunks, to his brilliant eyes. She felt trapped, as if caught in the path of an avalanche. Only, she wasn’t sure she wanted to move out of the way.
Trembling, Eden rose to face him. “My father’s health is in jeopardy,” she said. “
You must send us home.”
“So you can go back to your FFP friend?” Bramford said.
She felt as if her stomach fell to her knees. “It wasn’t like that.”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t know who Jamal was?”
“I swear I had no idea. If I had known, I never would have…” But what could she say?
Bramford snapped at her. “I want the truth.”
His broad, naked chest distracted her so she forced herself to look into his eyes, which didn’t help much, either. Instead, she stared at a point just over his shoulder, as he often had done to her in the past.
“You saw those soldiers after me at the dance,” Eden said. “I wasn’t in on Jamal’s plan, I swear.”
“Dance?” her father said.
“There was an information leak at REA,” Bramford said. “Only your father and I knew the extent of the operation. I think we can safely assume that neither he nor I betrayed us to the FFP.”
“Don’t listen to him, Father.”
But Bramford kept up the attack. “Why did you disobey my order to stay in your unit? Jamal convinced you to go, didn’t he?”
Eden hung her head on her chest. “I thought—”
“You thought Jamal would option you. And whenever you enjoyed romantic visits with him you just happened to let vital data slip. Isn’t that true?”
“What, what?” her father said.
“You don’t understand.”
Bramford shook his head. “How naïve could you be, Eden?”
“To believe a Coal might want me? Is that what you mean?”
Embarrassment flickered across his face. That was exactly what he meant.
Eden looked him dead in the eye. “Someday, when you’re locked up in a cage, Bramford, maybe you’ll understand what it feels like to be an outcast.”
He flinched. His startling green eyes narrowed as he growled menacingly. Eden braced herself for the unexpected, when his face flooded again with human intelligence.
“We always have a choice in life,” Bramford said, matter-of-factly. “If you weren’t so self-involved you’d understand that. But since you’ve proven to be untrustworthy—” His hand snaked forward and tore out her Life-Band earring.