Jaci's Experiment (11 page)

***

Sinclair Prime had a camp, of sorts, up in the high country overlooking the protected valley that housed the O’Hara ranch. They didn’t know he was here. Not yet. If all went well, they’d never know he’d appointed himself guardian spirit of their hidden valley. He owed them. They’d welcomed him when his own people would have ended his life without a second thought and absolutely no regret. 94

The first being to test Mara 12’s new and improved gene therapy cocktail, he’d been unprepared for the emotions that nearly overtook him. Then he’d been sent out on one final mission—one final assassination in a long career of quick, deadly work. It had been too much. Sinclair Prime couldn’t bring himself to kill Chief Engineer Davin and had only winged him, knowingly giving his own life as forfeit. But Davin, and especially the astounding woman who was his resonance mate, had surprised him.

Not only had they forgiven him, but they’d offered him sanctuary and a chance to start anew. As far as the Alvians were concerned, he’d escaped, never to be seen again. Mara 12 and the High Council had no idea he’d been transported by Davin himself to the O’Hara ranch, high in the mountains of the northern continent.

Sinclair liked the wild terrain and the brisk weather. He loved snow and the lush land up here where humans?and those with emotions?could roam free. He owed Davin, Callie and Rick his life. Literally. He figured a good way to begin to repay their astounding kindness was by keeping an eye on their relatives on the ranch down below.

There were children on the ranch who needed protecting. Sure, the humans were doing all right on their own and Justin O’Hara had some skills even Sinclair envied, but Sinclair had the high ground. As a sniper and assassin, the high ground was where he operated best and felt most comfortable.

He also had one other, top secret genetic modification that made him more comfortable up here than anywhere else on the planet, and he was finally free to use it as
he
wanted. Not as his masters directed.

Sinclair was through being a puppet dancing when his strings were pulled. He answered to no man and lived what remained of his life according to
his
will and yes, his emotions.

Sinclair Prime, the top assassin for the Council, was no more. He did his best to pass for human these days, when it was absolutely necessary to have contact with the others living in this wild place. It had been Rick St. John who’d given Sinclair his new name, though it had started as a joke. Rick had decided, for no apparent reason, to call him Bill. And so Bill Sinclair had been born.

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A hunter he’d met on a game trail across the ridgeline two days before asked him if he was the one folks were calling Wild Bill. Sinclair had no idea what such a moniker meant among humans, but only shrugged and let the hunter think whatever he liked.

Only a long time later, when the man was gone and the moonless night provided cover, did the man now known as Bill, take off his shirt and let his wings unfurl.

***

The whole city was buzzing with the news. Chief Engineer Davin was coming for a visit. The talented throwback was often the subject of gossip, and rarely left his engineering facility these days unless there was some major problem. The talk of his mating had spread through the Alvian population, and raised eyebrows. Many had watched the news feeds of his startling appearance before the High Council during the last big power outage. People were curious about him and intrigued that he had found a resonance mate among the Breeds. That he was bringing his mate with him was even more interesting and many Alvians found themselves loitering on the path from the main shuttleport in order to catch a glimpse of the oddest of all Alvians. He stood out among his people for many reasons. First, he was a throwback, an aberration born with emotions unlike the vast majority of their race. Second, he was the most talented crystallographer in generations and had already accomplished engineering feats on this new planet that were legendary.

Third, he had only recently defied the High Council with a dramatic display of anger, pride and outrage that hadn’t been seen in those hallowed chambers in generations. That he’d not only stood up to the Council, but stood up to them and won only added to his aura.

If all that weren’t enough, he’d confirmed his theory that Breeds could have the crystal gift. His legend had only increased when he claimed his mate in a raw crystal cavern, causing explosions on the power grid the likes of which had never been seen as they together overloaded the system with their joining. His Breed assistant’s healing of the fractured Council Crystal was something spoken of in whispers.

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Little was known about the private life of Chief Engineer Davin, but rumors ran wild about the fact that assistant, a Breed by the name of Rick St. John, now shared quarters with Davin and his Breed mate.

Speculation was rife about this Breed male’s position in the household but Davin was saying nothing on the matter and so far Alvians had been too polite to ask him about it outright.

The three who disembarked from the small shuttle walked confidently down the halls of the northern city, destination firmly in mind. Ostensibly they were there to visit with Callie’s uncle, but each of them knew they were on a mission of mercy to help two human men and their poor, confused, Alvian resonance mate. They felt the stares of the people who tried to look as if they belonged loitering around the halls trying to catch a glimpse of them, but paid them no mind.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Rick St. John seemed to get a kick out of the Alvian curiosity seekers trying to figure out who he was. He chuckled as he held Callie’s left hand, Davin holding her right as they walked together as equals down the wide corridors.

Before too long they arrived at their destination, a large apartment on the upper level where Caleb O’Hara was housed. They didn’t even have to knock. Caleb had the door open and whisked them inside, wrapping his niece in a huge bear hug as he welcomed them all.

After a lengthy visit, Davin and Rick left Callie with her uncle and took a tour of the city. Davin led them eventually to the cells where he looked in on various prisoners. At this point Rick made a great show of recognizing Michael and David, stopping for a chat and introducing them to Davin. All of this was watched with mild interest on the monitors, though the Alvian scientists could have no way of knowing this meeting had been carefully choreographed for their benefit.

Rick caught up on old times with his supposed long-lost buddies and told them he’d been tested for crystal talent. The subject rolled around to Davin, who conveniently pulled a few crystals from his pocket and placed them before the two men just for laughs. To his apparent shock, they had a great deal of crystal gift.

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While Davin had been prepared to fake the results of the test if necessary, he was more than a little surprised when both of the men turned out to have a high degree of very real crystal talent. It would make what he had to do easier. The crystal gift took precedence over all other experiments. There were too few Alvian crystallographers to run the ever-expanding power grids that were coming online each day. Suitable candidates among the Breeds were learning at a rapid pace and were already doing some of the day to day tasks quite well. But he always needed more gifted people.

Suddenly his mission of mercy turned into a something slightly different. These two men would be more than welcome in his training program given their scores on his little test. They wrapped up their visit with a promise to be in touch and Davin sidestepped over to the very next cell. He had one more small task to perform.

He knocked politely on Ruth’s door.

Ruth settled her fussing daughter into the cradle and stood in front of it as the two strange men lowered the shield and entered her cell. She tried not to show her fear as they moved within the small cell. She could see that one was Alvian, but one was human, and they both held their hands up, palms open in a gesture of peace. She didn’t relax though. Her daughter needed her. She was the only thing that stood between her precious baby and the Alvian experiments that could come at any time. She lived in fear of what they might do.

“Be at ease. You are Ruth?” the Alvian man asked in a calm voice. “I am called Davin. Caleb O’Hara asked me to check on you and your daughter.”

“Caleb O’Hara? The precog?”

The one called Davin nodded respectfully. “The very one. I mated with his niece Callie not long ago and together with Rick—” he gestured slowly toward the other man, “—we’ve set up a training program for humans who have the crystal gift.”

“I don’t know what that is,” she admitted, still suspicious. Davin smiled and wonder of wonders, it was a real smile. It lit his eyes from within and radiated out from his 98

handsome face. “You’re different from the others,” she found herself saying. “Who are you? What are you?”

The human he’d called Rick laughed hard at that and turned to her. “He’s a throwback, ma’am. He was born with emotions, unlike the rest of his kind. He’s not a bad guy once you get to know him, but believe me when I say, we mean you no harm. This is strictly a social call. We told Caleb we were taking a tour of the city and he asked that we check on you and your daughter.”

The baby was still fussing, her cries pulling at her mother’s attention even as she weighed the men’s words. She turned swiftly and picked up her baby, rocking her to try to quiet her.

“Ma’am.” Rick stepped forward slowly. “I have a bit of the healing gift. Is there anything I can do to help your baby?”

Ruth looked deep into his eyes and made a decision. She stepped forward hesitantly.

“She’s been fussy all day and I think she’s running a temperature.”

Rick moved his hand to hover near the baby’s forehead. He looked to Ruth first, before touching the baby. “May I?”

Ruth nodded swiftly, holding the baby while Rick put his hand on her chubby cheek. She watched carefully as he closed his eyes and concentrated. She thought she saw an ever-so-slight glow from his fingertips where they touched, light as a butterfly, on her daughter’s chubby cheek.

After a few moments he opened his eyes and moved back. The baby quieted and nestled against her mother, dozing happily and no longer fussy.

“Just a minor ear infection. It hadn’t really set in yet so it was easy to get rid of. Be careful to keep water out of her ears and she should be fine.”

Rick moved a few feet back to his position near the door, dragging just a little, she could easily see. He was a true healer, then. She’d seen how they gave of their own energy when they healed another person once, long ago, and she remembered it well.

“Thank you, Mister…um….”

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“Rick St. John,” he introduced himself, leaning forward to shake her hand politely. “Caleb really did send us down here. He told us he’d sent you a note when you were pregnant and he was wondering how you’re doing.”

“You can tell him that I’m doing well and I can never thank him enough for sharing what he knew with me in that note. Please tell him how grateful I am. I owe him.”

“We’ll tell him, ma’am. We’ll be going back up to see him before we leave the city.”

“You can come and go as you please?” She was shocked that Rick, a human, could have such free run of the Alvian city.

Rick nodded, kindness in his eyes. “It wasn’t always that way for me, so I know how you must feel. But I’m part of Davin’s group in the Southern Engineering Facility. We work with the Alvians, training, learning and helping maintain the technology that runs their cities. In return, we have a certain amount of freedom.”

Ruth felt tears gather in her eyes. “I’m truly happy to hear that, and happy for you Mr. St. John. It gives me hope to know at least some of us are finding our way out of imprisonment.”

Davin chose that moment to step forward, his hand outstretched with three crystals. Ruth had no idea what he wanted her to do with them, but it was pretty clear he was handing them to her. She moved forward and took them from his hand. Immediately they began to glow and she jumped.

“What are they?”

Davin looked at Rick, who broke into a broad grin.

“They just might be your ticket out of here, ma’am. Would you be interested in learning how to work with crystals?”

She looked more closely at the purple, white and yellow crystals in her hand. “These are beautiful.

Amethyst, citrine and quartz, right?” Davin’s eyes narrowed and she felt the need to explain. “I used to make jewelry back in the old days. I owned a small boutique. I did special orders and some metalsmithing too. Folks came from all over to buy my pieces and I made a good living. I worked with faceted stones of all kinds, so I got to know them pretty well. But I never did anything with raw crystals like these. Never saw

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them glow like this before either.” She handed them back to Davin, who took them gingerly. They glowed for a short time longer and then dimmed as he put them back in his pocket.

“I think if you had worked more with raw crystals, you would have encountered the glow long ago. You are almost certainly a natural conductor. It’s a rare gift, Ruth, and one that is much sought after in my engineering facility. Would you like to join us there and learn to use your gift?”

Ruth’s heart jumped in her chest, but then she looked down at her baby.

“Only if I can bring my daughter. I won’t leave her behind, no matter what.”

“Of course,” Davin was quick to reassure her. “I’m not heartless enough to separate a mother from her child.” With a pointed look to the monitor she knew was in the corner, she realized he was making a point that was more than likely lost on the emotionless techs who were watching the cells from the city above. “I will talk with the scientist in charge of your area and see what I can do. If you are told to move in the next day or two, don’t worry. I will be asking for two others?your next door neighbors, as a matter of fact?so if you end up on a ship with them, you’ll be heading for the southern facility. I will see you there.”

Davin turned on his heel and strode out the door but Rick took a moment to smile at her. She felt reassured by his human face and his easygoing manner. That he’d also healed her little girl meant a lot as well. Suddenly things were looking up for them both.

“I’m glad you’ll both be joining us. We have a small but friendly group of trainees and Davin is a good teacher. I think you’ll enjoy your new life.”

“Thank you. Thank Davin as well, and please thank Caleb. Once again he’s interceded in my life for the better. He’s an angel.”

Ruth realized as Rick left and the door shield powered up once more that Caleb O’Hara truly was her guardian angel. She’d never even met the man but he’d done so much good for her and her little girl. She included him in her prayers that night as she had from the day she’d received the note telling her that she would see Sam, her baby’s

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father, again one day. She lived for that day and her heart had hope. All thanks to Caleb O’Hara.