Regression (32 page)

“
Do all regressees
recall accidents at their point of regression?”

“
I’m not sure, but I
think so. It seems to be one of the defining characteristics, and
although we haven’t figured out the significance we expect there is
some relationship to−”

A bleep interrupted him. “Oh, the
machine is ready…” The ultrasound finished warming up and she again
slathered the jelly on her abdomen. Peter awkwardly held the
transducer against her belly.

“
I have no clue what
I’m looking at, just looks like dark and light blobs to
me.”

“
I’ve seen enough of
them now to know what I’m looking for. Slide a bit to the left.
There, can you see two little … well, right now they look like fat
little squeaky toys, they’re a bit larger than I thought they’d be.
But, there are two there. Looks like they’re in the same sac. That
would mean identical twins. Wow. It doesn’t run in my
family.”

“
What about the
father’s?”

“
That would be a
little hard to know, Peter.”

Abashed, he flushed. “Oh, right,
sorry.”

“
Monozygotic twins
aren’t passed through the father anyway, are they?” She glanced at
the doorway. “We’d better get out of here. Can you wipe off the
transducer? I’ll turn off the machine.” They quickly left the
centre, encountering the doctor as he exited the
elevator.

“
Good evening, Dr.
Heisz. How are you?”

“
I am well, Peter,
Adya. Someone needs stitches, looks like they aren’t here yet. Have
a good night.”

“
You as
well.”

After the elevator doors closed
they burst into laughter, having struggled to maintain straight
faces. They laughed until their stomachs hurt, still chuckling as
the elevator doors opened on the perplexed faces of regressees Uba
Kébé and Taddeo Yilmaz as Adya and Peter arrived at PN1.

“
Excuse us.” Making
their way to the dining room, they selected a snack and sat
down.

“
I think it’s
imperative you return to the Island to stay, you’ll need to meet
with Babak regularly for monitoring.”

“
I’m not new to this,
Peter. I don’t need monitoring too closely for the first
while.”

“
Were there twins
before?”

“
No… still, I don’t
think an early return’s necessary.”

“
I think we absolutely
have to tell Abraham, this could impact more than just
you.”

“
I realize that.” She
pleaded with him, “Let me think on it for another day or two
please, Peter?”

“
When you ask me like
that, I can’t resist. But, only for a day or two. I want you to get
the best care possible and I don’t think it’s here. We don’t have
any young families stationed here.”

“
Okay, we’ll see.
When’s the next meeting at the tower?”

“
Next week, so there
will be a Sanctum meeting in two days to prepare our schedules. Oh,
wait…shoot, forgot to tell you, it was moved ahead till tomorrow.
Sorry, can you be there for thirteen hundred tomorrow? We try to
travel together to the Island and need to ensure our departure time
does not inconvenience any projects so we meet to arrange
things.”

“
Where do you
meet?”

“
The conference room
on PN3, it’s half way between the different levels. Can you make
it?”

“
Yes, no problem I
expect. I am scheduled with Melik.”

“
Yes, he’ll be coming
to the meeting as well. I have to go. I’ll see you tomorrow at
eleven thirty?”

“
Yes. Good night
Peter.”

“
Good night
Adya.” 

Journal of Doctor Nicholas Weaver

October 26, 98 P. I.

The first collision
was unexpected. Trajectories for the comet and the asteroid had
been plotted, neither deemed a threat. An error in the software
neglected to calculate the risk of them meeting each other in the
vastness of space. The impact of the two bodies sent them
plummeting toward Earth, each with its own danger.

Comet 2009-721 should
have been the lesser of two evils. Smaller, fragmented after the
November 11 collision, there should have been nominal risk. But,
where there is water, there is life. Asteroid 1999-0045 caused
immediate damage as it struck the Earth on February 1, 2012, but
the insidious effects of the water-borne virus did not manifest for
an entire generation, leaving us no time to create possible
countermeasures. Except mine. 

Adya reported to the microbiology lab at nine the next
morning only to find Melik not present.

“
He was called away,
won’t be back until around fourteen thirty.” The research assistant
wore an apologetic look as he gave her the message. “He said you
could just read these books to begin your orientation.” The books
on basic microbiology, similar to what would be used at the high
school level, were piled on the counter.

“
Thank you, I will
take a couple of them with me and return later in the afternoon. I
expect I will see Mister Kartal at the meeting this afternoon.”
Rather than returning to her quarters, she decided to workout.
Skimming over the literature, she ran on the treadmill and rode the
cycle. Intent on her workout, she lost track of time, hurrying back
to her quarters to have a quick shower, change and head for the
dining room. About to enter the area, the voices inside gave her
pause.

“
It’s not like
anyone’s getting any down here, except maybe Henri and
Peter.”

“
And when she looks at
you with those blue eyes and smiles, all I can think is how
incredible she would be in bed, I mean, a forty year old woman’s
experience with a fourteen year old body. Whew, that’s a
fantasy…her eyes just scream ‘Do Me’.” There was no doubt who they
were talking about.

“
That’s not all those
eyes say, they’ve spoken to me too. And have you seen her when she
works out, bending her ass over the roman chair? You know she’s
just waiting for it.”

“
Oh, God, when does
she do that? I think I’ll have to start going to the
gym.”

“
She uses the chair
twice a week although she works out every day. You’re not the only
one to have that thought, attendance at the gym has tripled since
she started going. I had to change my times, I was ready to
explode.”

Adya had to turn away, flushed in
embarrassment as the crude comments continued. Yabarek emerged from
the room, his own face heating as he met her angry eyes. She
recognized his voice as the one needing to change his exercise
routine. Furiously brushing past him, planning to return to her
quarters, she stopped at his call.

“
Adya,
wait.”

She turned on him. “Wait? So you
can continue to insult me with your insinuations and raging
hormones? That’s the only excuse I can think of for the intolerable
behaviour in there, although I would expect your minds should be
able to over-rule your physiology. None of you are truly teenagers
even if your structure is pubescent.” She changed direction and
stormed into the dining room. There were four men in addition to
Yabarek: Uba, Melik, Taddeo, and Dimitri.

“
All of you, the
saviours of the Earth, the brightest and best the world has to
offer and here you are discussing me like a piece of dessert ready
to be served.” She snatched a can of whipped topping from the
fridge, slipped off her top and emptied the can over her shoulders
and bra. “Here, do you want me with whipped cream?” The men stared,
open mouthed.

“
Oh, I guess I should
assume the position for your pleasure, here we go boys.” She bent
herself over one of the dining chairs in an imitation of the roman
chair exercise and slapped her buttock. The whipped cream dripped
from her chest to the chair.

“
C’mon boys, you were
all talking about how easy it would be. I would be yours for the
taking. Let’s get at it.” She ground her hips in a coarse parody of
having sex.

“
Not so confident now,
are you, when you have to face the object of your degradation? I
thought we were getting past my sex. Maybe you were managing to see
me as a professional and colleague, not a piece of ass. Obviously
that stumbling block is still there for you. Not too much longer
and you won’t be tempted by me. By the way, Yabarek, stay out of
the gym at 7 am, that’s my new workout time and apparently you
don’t have enough self control to be in the same room as
me.”

Scraping the remaining whipped
cream off her chest with her hand, her arm sliced through the air
to splatter the men with the white foam. She pulled her top back
into place and stalked out of the room. Her heart raced and her
hands trembled as she swiped her ID card to open the door to her
quarters. None of the men had left the dining area yet. No one
would see her before she entered her room.

Adya ran a cold shower, washing
away the traces of whipped cream. Her shoulders relaxed, and she
started to giggle as she replayed the scene in her mind, colour
flooding her face, neck and shoulder. “Oh, my God.” She shook her
head with rancor, grimacing. “I’m never gonna live that
down.”

A knock sounded at the door as she
was towelling off. After debating whether to answer, she dressed
and opened the door. Peter stood at the doorway, his hands wringing
a paper between them.

“
Yes, Peter?” She did
not invite him in.

“
I, ah, understand
some of the men behaved inappropriately today.” Ruddy faced, Adya
had a feeling he was thinking of her inappropriate behaviour as he
spoke.

“
That would be an
understatement.” She had no intention of making it easy for any of
the men to make amends.

“
They, um, were hoping
we could all sit down and discuss the issue.”

With a lopsided grin, she nodded.
“As long as it is not in the dining room, I am
agreeable.”

“
Will you accompany me
to PN3? The men are waiting there.”

“
Okay. For
you.”

Peter breathed a sigh of relief
and trailed Adya to the elevator. Although she did not look at him
during the ride, she could feel his eyes on her. Finally, she
raised her gaze and was startled by the gentle look in his
eyes.

“
I am sorry…I know I
wasn’t there, but I am as guilty as the rest of them. You are
right. We haven’t treated you like a person. You are just
so…perfect. Not a one of us can deny an incredible attraction to
you. We have all felt it, and it’s not just your body. The ideas
you have, the way you present them, the perspective you have all
demonstrate extraordinary intelligence. But, you must admit, your
delicious body is hard to ignore.” Peter cushioned his comment with
a shy smile.

“
Maybe it’s the
pheromones?”

“
You don’t really
think so, do you?”

“
Are they still
showing up on the blood test results?”

“
Yes.”

“
So, there might be
something to the …ah…claims of increased attraction.” As they
entered the conference room on PN3, Adya was ready for what she
needed to say.

The five men faced her, chagrin
evident on every face in combination with humble and sincere
apology. She met each pair of eyes, their faces relaxing at the
humour in hers.

“
It’s okay. I have
come to make amends, not to make things worse. I am as much to
blame for this situation as you are.” The men uttered denials, but
Adya continued. “Any of you done work with pheromones? We don’t
know for certain the implications, but I have a …genetic
abnormality. At this time, the effect is an increase in pheromones,
the” she paused, blushing, “chemicals responsible for eliciting
mating behaviours in animals.”

The men were astounded, their
faces reflecting their shock at Adya’s statements.

“
This is only a
hypothesis, and a brand new one at that, but I think we’re all
victims of instinctive responses getting in the way of our better
judgment, precipitated by the chemicals I produce. At this point, I
don’t know if there’s anything to do to suppress them. Let’s start
anew from here. I don’t want any of us to have to hide from each
other and I don’t want to stifle emotions or feelings because it’s
hard enough being a regressee, keeping the future secret while
striving to save it. I find myself shying away from contact with
other people because I don’t want to let some telltale detail, some
important clue, slip. If you feel the same way it leaves all of us
in a difficult position.”

She placed her hands on Yabarek’s
shoulders. “I don’t want to drive you away from the gym. I have to
admit, your comments aren’t ones I haven’t heard before. I’ve been
through two lifetimes of them. Actually, the comments themselves
were not the offensive part to me. It was the context and my
disappointment in your lack of respect. If you want to comment
about my body, comment to me or with me. It’s called flirting, and
is harmless when both sides know there’s nothing more to it. And,
in return, I get to comment about how tight your ass is when you’re
doing squats, the muscles straining in your shorts.” He had the
grace to blush, darkening his swarthy skin. “See, two can play the
game.”