Part 13 (2/2)
Just do it.
Jason was used to obeying orders, not giving them. The two teleported out, leaving Threnody alone in the hallway with Keiko holding up Jael. Threnody felt Jason's telekinetic touch pull away, leaving her uns.h.i.+elded and surrounded by people who were prepared to see her dead.
We have the gestational unit, Kerr said. Good luck.
Then he was gone and she was alone in her mind.
Threnody raised her arms in surrender. She felt Keiko's power slam into her, telekinesis bruising her body. She hit the wall with enough force to feel her ribs crack. Threnody collapsed to the floor, struggling to breathe. Invisible pressure crawled over her throat, choking her into unconsciousness.
SIXTEEN.
SEPTEMBER 2379.
AMUNDSEN-SCOTT SOUTH POLE STATION, ANTARCTICA.
”Well?” Lucas demanded.
”Don't rush me,” Korman said curtly, carefully plugging in the last wire. The gestational unit's control board that monitored energy levels turned from the yellow of battery power to the bright blue of a solid electrical connection. Korman hummed to himself for a minute or two, the glitter from his optic replacements s.h.i.+fting as he studied the data. ”No damage from the transfer. Everything is fine.”
”Everything except the fact that you left Threnody behind,” Quinton said, glaring at where Jason and Kerr stood on the other side of the lab table.
”She told me to,” Jason said. ”This was her mission and I wasn't going to argue her orders.”
”Now you choose to obey without question?”
”Take this fight outside,” Lucas said, not looking up from the readouts on his daughter's health. ”Right now.”
Quinton headed for the door, expecting the other two to follow. Knowing this conversation wasn't one that could be ignored, Kerr and Jason joined him out in the hallway. Without warning, Quinton grabbed Jason by the collar of his s.h.i.+rt and slammed him against the wall.
”What the f.u.c.k were you thinking?” he snarled into Jason's face.
Jason telekinetically shoved him away and Quinton stumbled backward. ”I already told you. She wanted to stay.”
”I don't care what she wanted. There's no reason for her to stay behind if you had Lucas's daughter.”
”Ciari's alive,” Kerr said with a shrug. ”Reason enough.”
Quinton glared at him. ”What the h.e.l.l is that supposed to mean?”
Kerr didn't seem concerned about Quinton's temper. ”If Ciari's alive, then there's a chance we can reconnect with the Strykers.”
”After today, I doubt that will happen,” Jason said with a faint snort. He was staring at his left hand, still smeared with blood, and the expression on his face was pained. ”They'll be on heightened alert after this.”
Lucas pushed open the door to Korman's lab, coming into the hallway. Quinton focused his attention on Lucas. ”We're getting Threnody back.”
”That was never in doubt,” Lucas said, letting the door shut behind him. ”But I needed leverage if we're going to convince the Strykers to let us administer the nanites virus.”
”So, you traded Threnody for your daughter?”
”And we'll trade their freedom for Threnody.” Lucas met Quinton's glare without blinking. ”I'm not leaving her behind, as you inelegantly put it. There is a reason for every single thing I do, and Threnody knows that. She knew what was required of her if Ciari still lived.”
”You don't know what they'll do to her.”
”I know she's still alive.” Lucas tapped the side of his head. ”I've got a s.h.i.+eld wrapped around her mind, and I doubt your Syndicate officers will immediately hand Threnody over to the World Court. For one, the loyalty you Strykers have for each other is incredibly hard to break. I've mindwiped enough of your fellow Strykers after retrieval to vouch for that. For another, the World Court is going to have far greater problems to deal with than one escaped Stryker. The pirate feed goes live today.”
Kerr grimaced at that news. ”You're aiming to make the world riot.”
”If the dregs of humanity choose to retaliate with violence after learning the truth the government's kept hidden from them, then so much the better.” Lucas shrugged, as if the oncoming societal upheaval didn't bother him in the least. ”It will make it more difficult for the government to continue with the launch.”
”I thought you didn't care if they made it to Mars Colony,” Quinton said. ”I thought you didn't care if the government left us all behind. We get half the seed bank, they get the Ark and some other planet.”
”Things change,” Kerr said, refusing to look at Lucas, even if he couldn't stop thinking about what a dead precognitive child had said in some old recorded file.
”Yes,” Lucas agreed with a faint, twisted smile. ”And that's what Jason is going to be doing to my daughter.”
Jason frowned. ”What?”
”My daughter needs to grow up with your type of power, and you are going to make sure that happens.”
”What do you want me to do? Alter her DNA?” Jason gave Lucas a blatantly disbelieving look. ”I don't know what I'm doing with this power, Lucas. Do you honestly want to risk an unborn child-your unborn child-by having me perform some act which I can't guarantee will work?”
”Psions are born with the genetic ability to control their powers. It's instinct that turns into conscious control. Why do you think Kerr had such problems with his s.h.i.+elds? Why do you think you're capable of reading as human on the mental grid after I showed you how to do it once? We're born into bodies that are geared towards supporting our minds.”
”That's different than me trying to apply my power to something like this,” Jason argued.
”It's worked on all of us at one point or another since we left Buffalo.”
”All of you are alive. You aren't some cl.u.s.ter of multiplying cells.”
”Which is exactly the best time to do this,” Lucas said. ”Her DNA is still very malleable. Right now is the only chance you've got to make her into what I need her to be. What we need her to be.”
Jason glared at him. ”You don't know that I can do this.”
”Yes, I do.” Lucas's voice was implacable, his gaze unwavering as he stared Jason down. ”And you will.”
”Why? Because Aisling told you I would?”
”Jays,” Kerr interrupted. ”You stopped to help a fellow Stryker back on the medical level. Do you believe what you did saved her?”
Jason let out a harsh breath. ”Maybe.”
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