Chaos Theory (21 page)

“
No.” Kenshin’s voice was suspiciously high. “I can see you
want to go after him. Please do.”

Kali sighed. She murmured another apology for her behaviour as
she rushed out the room, throwing an embarrassed look over her
shoulder at Igor and Lara who entered cautiously as she
left.

“
Bad news,” Igor concluded, taking in the smashed glass and
overturned table. “We heard a commotion and came to investigate.
Are you alright?”

“
Kali was understandably upset,” Kenshin replied. “I’m well.
Just heavy hearted.”

“
Do I have to … you know….” Lara mimed a neck slicing action.
Most would have rolled their eyes or made a funny sound to signal
they were joking, but Lara’s face was stone cold serious as she
asked if Kali needed to be killed.

Kenshin’s mouth turned down at the corners as he righted the
steel table and sat heavily.

“
Did they make her like us?” Igor asked.

“
She’s Human. There are no Hybrid traces in her helix.” Kenshin
shrugged. “Whatever they have done to her is … stars, I don’t know.
It’s like they started something, changed their minds and gave up,
leaving her half empty.”

“
Is her mind twisted? Will I have to....” Lara mimicked
strangulation.

“
No killing,” Kenshin snapped.

He slumped and placed his head in his hands, still devastated
at the news he’d had to impart to Kali and his Omicron. Worse, he
hadn’t even told them there was nothing he could do about
it.

Lara slouched over to him and rested her head on his shoulder,
scowling. “You really care, don’t you? Why? Even if this invasion
didn’t happen did you really consider yourself Human?”

Rubbing her back, Kenshin sighed deeply, wondering if Lara
would ever understand what it meant to feel part of the Human
Condition. There were times she showed great compassion, as she was
at that moment. He was a healer. It was his nature to want people
to feel well. She knew allowing him to offer someone comfort would
in turn make him feel better. Human emotion opened one to
weaknesses, like fear and anger, but the fairer emotions were worth
the risk you took. “We all display characteristics that are
inherently Human in nature. We’re only half Novan.” He hugged her
shoulders and shook her gently. “Don’t forget that.”

“
We use their blood to survive,” she pointed out dryly.
“They’re a source of replenishment to us and walking wombs to the
Novae.”

“
The vampiric nature of what we are is relevant, but I believe
our softer Human side is even more so. Yes, our bodies need the
fresh red blood cells to survive in the highly oxygenated
atmosphere, but it is a medical condition that can be managed like
any other. Oral consumption was the most effective way the Novae
could Reckon for themselves, but the intravenous method for a
Hybrid is a stroke of genius. It allows us the option for a
peaceful future, and I much prefer it to biting.”

Lara blinked. “You’ve bitten someone?”

“
I have.” Igor grunted at the unpleasant memory. “Once, an
accident when I was younger. I had not replenished and my body
craved the blood.”

“
It happened to me too,” Kenshin admitted. “I believe it is a
survival instinct that kicks in, much like the Human fight or
flight response. Our bodies lose tolerance of the atmosphere and
begins to remind us it needs blood cells.”

“
I’ve never had that urge.” Lara was intrigued. “Then again I
replenish before I start wheezing. My chest gets tight, and I know
I only have a few days left.”

“
Our vampirism is unfortunate,” Kenshin said.

“
It’s never burdened me,” said Lara, “I knew I was freaky, but
getting the blood was easy. I used to pay thugs in the OutRim once
a month.”

“
Once a month?” Kenshin was thoughtful. “I only replenish once
a season.”

“
For me, every fortnight,” Igor weighed in. He touched his head
hesitantly. “Do you know about the hair?”

“
The gene that stabilises our alien DNA with our Human DNA
disrupts the production of melanin and turns our hair follicles
white.” Kenshin puckered his lips, and fingered the inky ends of
his hair. “Our Creators do not have any colouring at all, except
for their eyes and the cloudy mass of their cerebral cortex. They
are transparent in some places. My hair didn’t lose colour until I
was older and relied on my telekinesis. I wonder if I reduced the
use of my ability if it would revert to its original shade. My
eyebrows are still black as is my body hair.”

“
Blue has almost no pigmentation at all except for his eyes,”
Lara mentioned. “He says he’s always been that way.” She tugged on
her hair, still neatly plaited into pigtails. “Do you think you
could generate a dye that would hold on us? I miss my
pink.”

“
Maybe. I need to study us in more detail. Our genome is
complex.”

“
How could they have not known about us,” Igor asked. “The
Alliance. They had to have seen some kind of pattern.”

“
It’s logical to assume we were born anaemic with severe
breathing complications at birth. These things are easily remedied.
With the sheer number of births that happen every year galaxy-wide
there would never be any indication that we were nothing but Human,
especially as soon as we became aware of ourselves we went to great
lengths to hide what we were, to blend in.”

“
What about the blood that’s sampled for record purposes?
Everybody had a snapshot of their DNA on profile.”

“
Our DNA looks Human with rudimentary analysis. Only a few of
the nucleotides in our helix are different.”

Lara shook her head, smiled wistfully. “I can’t believe there
were thousands of us out there.”

“
All that time I felt alone,” Igor rumbled.
His hands fisted. “All that time spent gathering information. And
for what purpose? To destroy?
To
kill
?”

Lara pushed away from Kenshin and scoffed. “Listen to you two.
Do you really love them? Humans.”

“
Yes.” Kenshin replied. “I believe it is my nature.”

Igor was less quick to answer. He considered his feelings. “I
care.”

“
Well I don’t.” She tugged on the end of her braids. “I just
want to live my life how I want. Protecting an assembly line of
frightened pregnant women is not my idea of a good
time.”

“
Agreed.” Igor grinned.

“
Do you know what it is that makes us special?” Lara genuinely
wanted to know. “Why did we feel the need to reach out?”

Kenshin shrugged, but it was something he was beginning to
give a great deal of thought. “Maybe our specific skills and areas
of focus allowed us to connect with humanity on an emotional
level.”

“
I make weapons. I really want to connect when I’m shooting
holes into something or blowing it up.”

“
It forces you to look at the morality of what you’re doing
more closely,” Kenshin insisted. “To take a life is not an easy
thing.” Anticipating Lara’s protest, he shot her a droll look.
“Maybe that intense study of what is considered right and wrong is
what triggered your Human emotions. I didn’t always feel this way
towards them. As a child, I didn’t care what happened to people on
this planet. I had no sense of belonging or loyalty. Then I met a
young girl who was sick. My knowledge helped heal her. It was after
that everything changed. I felt a connection to life, a piece that
was missing clicked. I didn’t quite feel like I belonged, but I
felt more grounded. It was then I became curious if there were
others like me.”

“
Me too,” Igor said. “My Natalya was found abandoned and
dying.” He patted his companion’s head without looking, knowing she
would be sitting at his side as she always was and he hoped always
would be. “I nursed her to health. Soon, the protection of living
things became my priority not just the need to study and learn. It
became a calling.”

They looked at Lara expectantly.

She glowered at them, but fair was fair. “I was seventeen. I
worked at a seedy bar in the OutRim, just a bad place. On my way
home I was attacked.” She waved a hand at their troubled
expressions. “Don’t worry, I kicked his ass. Soon as I got over the
fear of a bigger, physically stronger male throwing me about, I
wiped the floor with him. It was the first time I’d used my
telekinesis offensively.” Lara’s face darkened as she was thrown
back into the past. She remembered the feel of the sweaty hands
that grabbed her, and the nasty unwashed stench of a lumbering
body. Years later the sickening chortles of triumph from her
attacker as he dragged her into the shadows of a rubbish-strewn
alleyway still echoed in her ears. She shuddered. “I didn’t kill
him. I should have, but I didn’t see the need for it. Another
server that worked at the same bar wasn’t so lucky the next night.
I found her raped and beaten. She died in minutes. All she wanted
was to hold my hand, she
begged
me, not to leave her alone, to stay until she was
gone.” Lara stared at her palm as her other arm hugged her middle.
“I remember thinking how unfair it was that she was unable to
defend herself. I remembered the terror I felt when that asshole
grabbed me. She would have felt the same, except she had no way to
fight back.”

“
How did you know it was him?” asked Igor. “The same
man?”

Lara pulled her hair away from her neck and under her ear was
a dark scar, a burn mark.

Igor frowned. “It looks like–”

“
A star inside a planet,” she said, letting her hair fall. “He
branded us with his ring. He got her on the cheek.” Lara’s eyes
glittered like jewels, beautiful and hard. “That’s why I don’t
hesitate to kill. That’s why I learned how to use a knife, because
sometimes there is no time to shoot, and only a blade will do. If I
had done the just thing that girl would still be alive. I corrected
my mistake, but that doesn’t bring her back. It doesn’t ease what
she suffered.”

Kenshin’s eyes were soft. “And you say you don’t love
them.”

18.

Kali stepped into the main living area and blinked. Max was on
his knees talking to a child, and when he spotted her his face took
on an almost remorseful look.

He said something to the boy and stood.

Kali shuffled closer, admiring the boy’s astonishing
appearance. He was a Hybrid that much was clear from his colouring,
and the self-possession in his countenance. He had gorgeous eyes,
the kind that could pin you to the spot. His cheeks were chubby and
his lips pouty with youth.

Where in the universe had he come from?

“
Who is this?”

“
I can’t watch,” Max said, scooting past her towards the sofas.
“That would be too cruel, even for me.”

Kali was left with the child who stared at her, head cocked.
Dressed in a pastel green bodysuit with his hair neatly
side-parted, he looked very grown up. He linked his hands behind
his back and tapped his foot.

“
Kali,” he said matter-of-factly as a greeting. A FetchMe
zoomed into the room and landed on his shoulder with a fussy
beating of wings. “I am called Caesar.” The stroked the raptor’s
off-white breast. “This is Hypatia, Blue’s FetchMe, but she answers
to me as well.”

“
I’ve met Hypatia. She’s gorgeous.” Kali offered her hand.
“Blue never told me he had a brother.”

Caesar took her outstretched hand and gave it firm shakes with
his small one, twisting their hands so his was dominantly on top.
His babyish face twisted in confusion. “He doesn’t.”

Kali’s smiled faltered. “I’m sorry, who are you?”

“
His son.”

The statement echoed in her ears and got louder on each
reverberation. Kali jerked upright, forgetting to let go of his
hand and yanked him with her. Her exclamation got stuck, and she
scratched at her throat. “He never told me that either.”

“
Told you what?” Blue asked from the doorway.

Kali spun. Hand shaking, she motioned at Caesar. “Guess who
I’ve just met.”

“
My son?”

“
To use your own words, correct.”

“
Your neck is blotchy. Are you having an allergic reaction? I
have anti-histamine shots back at medical.”

Kali’s eyes rolled to what would have been skyward if she
wasn’t several feet below the earth. “I can’t believe we’re
actually having this conversation.” She dragged her nails across
her skin, trying to pull down a full breath. “My neck is on
fire.”

“
I don’t understand.”

She fanned her face and tugged at the collar of her tunic.
“Blue, you have a son who is….”

“
Six in four months,” Caesar said helpfully, giving her the
same baffled look as his father.

“
Thanks. Blue, you have a
six-in-four-months-year-old son, and
you never told me
.”

He blinked. “Didn’t think you’d see it as a
problem.”

“
It’s not. It’s not a problem, but it never crossed your mind
to say, “Kali, I have a child,” purely so that my heart didn’t try
to leave my chest when I bumped into him?”