Three uniformed, armed guards followed their boss into the room and stood with their backs to the wall.
Gideon paid them no attention, coming to my bedside and smiling down at me like a parent gazing into a newborn’s bassinet.
“Ah, here she is—my special, special girl.”
“And here’s Dr. Frankenstein,” I quipped. “Which I guess makes me some kind of a monster.”
“Oh no, not a monster.” He made a tut-tut noise with his tongue. “A miracle—that’s what your name means, you know. My son chose it for you, as it happens.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in miracles.”
“Not until now. You are a fascinating case, my dear, an anomaly among all your peers. Studying your brain will teach me so much. It will inform the next generation of Genesapiens and improve genetic editing and artificial intelligence by leaps and bounds. I’m very much looking forward to unraveling the new mysteries you’ve presented. I wonder why you evolved differently from the others? It has to be something chemical… or perhaps a spontaneous cellular deviation…”
His voice trailed off as he appeared to go inside his own mind, staring up toward the ceiling and already making calculations and taking notes.
Keeping in mind Heath’s plea, I did my very best not to spit in his face.
“I don’t mind answering some questions, as long as you’re planning to leave my friends alone. But I want something in return for my cooperation.”
Gideon’s attention flashed back to me, and a smile spread across his face. “Oh, I have no interest in your ‘friends.’”
He laughed as if he found the term impossibly quaint.
“They’ve served their purpose. They’ll be recalled. And I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood me, my dear. This is not a negotiation. I don’t need your cooperation. Only your brain.”
Heath bolted to his feet. “What? You assured me she wouldn’t be harmed.”
Gideon shot his son a look of beleaguered patience. “And she won’t. Once the brain is detached from the nervous system, it’s impossible to feel pain.”
“No,” Heath roared and shoved his father away from the bed, pushing him against the wall and glaring down into the older man’s face.
“You lied to me.”
The guards moved forward, but Gideon raised a hand, stopping them. He didn’t seem the least bit afraid.
In fact, he regarded his son with mild amusement, as if he was watching a toddler throw a senseless temper tantrum.
“You knew what this was about from the very beginning—science. Nothing more, nothing less. And yet, I fear you’re too much like your mother. Ruled by emotion. You’ve always suffered from… a misplaced sense of loyalty. As powerful as your brain is, your heart always gets in the way of what you know must be done. I’ve grown weary of your weakness.”
He gestured to the guards, who began moving toward my bed in unison. Watching them stalk toward me, I struggled futilely against my ankle bonds.
“Leave her alone.” Heath lunged for the guard closest to me and grabbed the man’s shoulder, spinning him around and burying a fist in his face.
The guard went down with a grunt. The other two guards sprang into action, shifting their focus from me to Heath. They flanked him, restraining his arms.
“Get him out of here,” Gideon said. “I’ll deal with him later. And send the nurse in with the sedative injection.”
“No,” Heath yelled, bucking and fighting his captors. “Father—I won’t let you do this.”
“I’m afraid you’re not the one in charge here, my son. That was, of course, my dream—that you’d work at my side, learn, and one day take over Gideon Corp. It’s too bad. As my heir and future CEO, you would have the power to make such weighty decisions as this one. Alas…”
There was a knock at the door. A nurse came in holding a syringe.
“Ah, here we go.” Gideon thanked the nurse as she deposited the injection device onto his palm.
“Son, would you like to be present for this?” he asked. “A few final words maybe… or perhaps you’d prefer to be escorted out before I begin?”
I struggled against my shackles as Gideon approached the bed, smiling at me like a benevolent grandfather.
“As I promised your true love, this won’t hurt. I would never cause pain to my greatest creation. Relax my dear—though the medication you and your friends took suppressed your reproductive drive, in a way, you’re about to become the mother of millions.”
“Wait,” Heath cried.
His father’s hand stopped in mid-air, the syringe hovering inches from my arm.
Hidden from Heath’s sight, a knowing grin sneaked across Gideon’s face.
“I’ll come back to work with you,” Heath said, sounding breathless. “I’ll train to take over the corporation. I’ll do anything you want. Just…please… let her live.”
I stared at him in shock, the full import of his words sinking in.
He does love me.
Though I questioned other things about our time together, I knew for certain Heath had told me the truth about his hatred of Gideon Corp and the work he used to do for the company.
The very last thing he wanted was to go back to work for his father, to give up his own dreams, his freedom—his soul—in order to do his father’s bidding and someday run the corporation he despised.
Straightening with a sneer of satisfaction, Gideon spun around to face his son. His tone was victorious and mocking.
“What about your conscientious objection? What about your ‘righteous’ stance on Genesapien rights?”
Heath shook his head, tears streaming down his cheeks. “All I care about is her. I’ll do whatever you ask.”
Setting the syringe carefully on the table, Gideon glanced back at me. “Well, it looks like there is a change of plans. I will be seeing you again soon, after all, my dear. Of course, you won’t remember me—not as anyone other than Dr. Rex, that is. And I’m afraid you’ll have no recollection of my soft-hearted son, either. Your memories will be wiped as usual, and you’ll go back to your ‘family’ and friends on the base.”
To Heath he said, “You will, of course, have no further unsupervised contact with the girl. The experiment is finished. We will move on to the next phase. And she will be safe—for now.”
“I understand,” Heath said, his jaw working as he stared at the floor.
So did I. I was to be a pawn in Gideon’s plan to keep his son under his thumb.
Anytime Heath defied him, his father could threaten harm to me, and Heath would step back into line. I wanted to live, but I hated thinking of what that life would cost Heath.
“Oh, there’s one more thing,” Gideon said, as if it had just occurred to him. “I’ll require a ‘consolation prize’ if I’m to give up this exquisite specimen.”
“What do you mean?” Heath asked, glancing up now at his father.
“I’ll need you to go back and continue the search for this mythical “Haven.” If it exists, it’s comprised of Genesapiens who may have the same mutation as your lovely friend here. They are, after all, rebels against their programming. Their brains will make a suitable replacement for the prize I’m forfeiting.”
“You…” Heath’s face darkened to a deep red.
He had to clear his throat before continuing. “You want me to hunt them. You want me to hunt teenagers. So you can dissect them.”
“Not teenagers—Genesapiens. Specimen. Correct terminology is so important. I see you find the thought distasteful. Would it help to know you’re saving the world?”
“What are you talking about?” Heath growled.
“You didn’t believe the Calamity was happenstance, did you? A virus wiped out half the world’s population on accident?”
His laugh raised the hairs on the back of my neck.
“You killed all those people?” Heath asked, looking pale.
“Me?” Gideon laughed again. “Oh no—this is much bigger than me, bigger than this corporation, than the lives of every person in this facility. We are only playing a part in the greater plan.”
A mischievous grin. “If you knew who was behind it all, well let’s just say… you wouldn’t believe it if I told you. So I won’t. But you must agree the lives of a few glorified clones is a small price to pay in exchange for saving the human population of this world.”
At Heath’s angry silence, Gideon sent a pointed glance in my direction. “Is there a problem, son?”
After a moment of prolonged stillness, Heath gave a quick back and forth jerk of his head.
“No. There’s no problem. I’ll do it.”
“Heath. You don’t have to do this,” I pleaded. “If he kills me, I’ll be free. But if you agree to this, you’ll be a slave for the rest of your life. It’s not worth it.”
Heath finally met my eyes. His voice was rough. “You are worth it. I love you, Mireya. More than my own life. More than anything.”
A sob came out before I could answer. “I believe you.”
And I did. His sacrifice had proved it beyond a doubt. My heart broke that it had taken me this long to trust in his love. And in myself.
I had expected perfection from Heath, the way my “parents” had expected it from me. But there was no perfect, just as there was no “normal.”
I wasn’t perfect. I wasn’t normal. But that was okay. What Heath and I had shared wasn’t normal, either—a human and a Gebby falling in love.
It was better than normal—it was something special, unique in all the world.
And it was beautiful.
He had made mistakes, to be sure, but he’d also loved me like no one else ever had or ever would. It killed me that I’d never have the chance to love him in return.
In that moment when we were so close, and yet unable to touch, separated by armed guards, by circumstance, by species, not to mention the world’s worst timing, it struck me that no machine or “creature” could ever feel this much pain.
I had to be human—authentically human—to be capable of such agony. My life was worth saving.
And so were the lives of all my friends at the base, and the kids like us on bases across the country, and those who’d escaped and found the Haven.
Silently I vowed to do whatever it took to help them. I might be the only person alive who could.
Gideon slapped his hands together in a single, loud clap.
“Very well then. The nurse will come in momentarily to prepare you for the memory wipe procedure. Have a nice life, my dear. Come along, son. We have work to do.”
And he left, followed by the guards who escorted Heath out of the room and out of my life forever.
He craned his neck back around to see me one last time before the door closed between us. His eyes were rimmed with red, and they were wet.
As the heavy metal barrier slowly obliterated my vision of Heath, I hoped he could still hear the words I had one last chance to say.
“I love you, too, Heath. I love you.”
