Botanicaust (9 page)

He sat forward to look straight into her eyes. His golden irises reminded her of Bats.
“
There
’
s only one of you, Tula. You need to be more selective of who you focus on.
”

“
My job is to make converts, Mo. Everyone could be worthy in one way or another, given the chance.
”

Mo shook his head.
“
I love that about you, baby.
”

“
Don
’
t patronize me.
”
Tula rose and paced to the edge of the privacy screen.
“
I know how you feel about the cannibals on the Burn.
”

“
I was out there once, too. I just happen to be a realist. Cannibals are monsters. It
’
s hard to wipe the slate clean once someone
’
s been taught fellow humans are food.
”

“
People take the easiest way out, every time. And our way
is
the easy way out. But we have to give the converts time to realize they no longer have to kill to survive.
”

Mo rose to get a bottle of water from the refrigerator. He popped the top and raised the bottle in a mock salute.
“
Once a man gets a taste for blood
…
”
Taking a long draught of water, he left the sentence hanging.

“
You mean adults. Children forget their past easily. But an adult who makes that choice is a much stronger convert in the long run.
”

“
Like that kid on the Burn today.
”

All the Burn Operatives had heard about the emergency. Bats had avoided euthanization, but he would never work the Burn or any other job requiring responsibility again. Tula
’
s blood pressure rose until her headache made her vision red.
“
Bats did nothing wrong. He showed compassion to a fellow human being.
”

“
Not the way Ops sees it.
”

“
Bats
is
a good man.
”

Mo raised his brows and swallowed another swig of water.
“
Baby, I don
’
t want to argue.
”

The pain between her eyes exploded, and Tula gritted her teeth against tears.
“
You know, I think I
’
d rather spend my time among cannibals.
”
She spun on her heel, grabbed her thick yellow robe, and stalked from the apartment.

“
Baby
…
”

She slammed the door on his entreaty.

Levi sat cross-legged on his cot and stared down the empty path between the cells. The only sound echoing from the cement walls was the soft snores of the child in the cage down the aisle. The other child had been removed without a struggle before the usual delivery of food containers.

Two down, two to go.

Although his exhausted body demanded rest, his brain would not allow his eyes to close. His time surely must be nearing an end.

The shuffle of feet alerted him to a visitor, and at first he thought perhaps an angel had come to give him comfort. Her yellow robe, the first real clothing he had seen since being taken captive, swished around her ankles as she paused before the sleeping child
’
s cage.

After a few moments, she turned to approach him, and he recognized the woman, Tula. Not an angel. A Blattvolk, even if she had donned clothing. She grasped the bars of his cage with both hands and, with a sigh, pressed her green, tearstained cheeks against the metal. Her whispered words sounded desperate.

Rising on unsteady legs, he pointed to Awnia
’
s empty cage.
“
Awnia?
”
This woman seemed to be an advocate for the young mother.

Without warning, the Blattvolk erupted into a fresh bout of tears.

Uncontrollable empathy washed over Levi.
“
Don
’
t cry.
”
His voice cracked. The words could have been for himself as easily as the Blattvolk. She shuddered with another sob.

He strode forward with more strength than he knew he had and wrapped his hands over hers where she clung to the bars. Her fingers were as cold as the metal. A shiny pink patch of skin on her right arm contrasted sharply with the jade hue of her skin, like a small piece of humanity peeking out at him from beneath her Blattvolk exterior.
“
Tula, don
’
t cry,
”
he whispered, afraid of his own voice.

At the sound of her name, she hiccoughed and met his gaze. This time he was struck by the humanity in her pale blue eyes.
“
Tula,
”
she repeated.

She searched his eyes, and he knew what she wanted. It was such a small thing, really. Taking a sharp breath, he said,
“
Levi.
”

“
Levi.
”
A smile rivaling a clear sunrise broke out on her face.

He hoped he hadn
’
t just let in the devil.

But Tula
’
s face was not one of temptation or evil or atrocity. Her skin might be green, but her eyes were human, and she needed compassion. Awnia had been taken away, and this woman seemed as upset about it as Levi was.

“
Are they going to kill her?
”

She seemed to understand the question, because she nodded. Pulling a hand from beneath his, she wiped her eyes on the back of her sleeve, then put her palm over his knuckles and beseeched him with her grief-reddened eyes. Her words sounded so much like
“
must eat,
”
that when she indicated his untouched canister he understood.

Now that he had talked to her, he
’
d opened a whole range of action he
’
d sworn not to take. But eating the food here had not changed Awnia. It had not sealed her damnation. And if he had any hope of convincing this woman to let him go, he had to maintain his strength.

In a moment of divine intuition, he felt God might want him to survive.

At Tula
’
s urging, he swallowed the tepid fluid in the canister and grimaced. His body recognized it as food, but his mouth protested every drop passing over his tongue. She made a face and nodded as if she agreed about the taste. Then she pulled a closed fist out of her pocket.

“
Dessert,
”
she said, holding out her hand. On her palm was
a clear
nougat the size of his thumbnail.

The bland drink he
’
d swallowed churned in his gut. Was this the agent to change him forever? She called it dessert, the finish to a meal. Would it also be the end of him?

He searched her eyes again, and detected no guile there. His insides calmed, and he knew she meant no harm. To get out of here, he was going to have to trust her. And convince her to trust him.

Taking the nougat between thumb and forefinger he sniffed it before touching a tentative tongue to the surface. Sweet. It was indeed dessert.
“
Thank you.
”
He put the lozenge into his mouth and allowed the sugars to dissolve. The candy tasted like hope.

Tula enjoyed a few minutes beneath the circle of fiber optic sunlight in her office while she updated her patient files. She
’
d had far too little photosynthesis, not to mention sleep, over the last few days, but she didn
’
t mind the exhaustion as long as she kept her converts on track.

Rhomy and Nika were settled together in Albert
’
s classroom. She didn
’
t usually place new converts together, but Albert was the only one Tula trusted with such delicate cases. He wasn
’
t happy about having three new converts to deal with at once, but she played his continuing crush to get him to agree.

She had to transfer Jobie to a different classroom, anyway. After an altercation with another boy, the rest of the children would no longer include him in their social activities. Violence would not be tolerated among converts. In her report, she glossed over the incident and filed a transfer request stating age difference as the reason for the change.

And then there was Levi.

Something about him drew her thoughts, even when she wasn
’
t with him. His language fascinated her, familiar in some words, but so different in others. And his mind was quick, not like the other Outsiders. He grasped the use of the gamma pad immediately, and had even jotted down words sharing an alphabet with Haldanian. She doubted he was a cannibal and wondered if there were more out there like him.

But when she pulled up the portraits from his paper notebook on the gamma pad, he shut down and refused to talk.

Today she had a video to teach him the words for different movements.
Running, walking, bending.
He was progressing quickly, but with only three days left to obtain Verification of Consent, she
’
d petitioned the Board for an extension. She hoped the language barrier would be enough to gain her a few more days to work with him, and had slipped in a referral to her own mistake assuming he was with Awnia as taking away time that could have been used for his conversion.

She hummed while filling two protein canisters, one for herself and one for her remaining prisoner. She
’
d taken to sharing breakfast with him in his cell. Mo accused her of being attracted to the outsider, but she scoffed at the idea. She loved Mo, but sometimes he was as narrow-minded as Vitus.

Tucking her gamma pad under one arm, she headed for the prison room only to be waylaid by her supervisor.
“
Did you get the paperwork on that prisoner?
”

Her heart lurched with hope.
“
Did the Board make a decision already?
”

“
No need. Turns out he carries the F508 mutation on the CFTR gene.
”

“
No.
”
Her stomach flipped over.

“
Euthanization order went in this morning. Sign off and get him transferred.
”
Vitus dismissed her.

“
F508 mutations are so common. It could easily be resolved with gene therapy-
”

“
On a prisoner? Waste of resources. Don
’
t argue with me.
”
He held up a hand to stop her.
“
Sign off immediately.
”