Seek, p.15
Seek, page 15
part #2 of Unwelcome Series
“We investigated human mutations.”
“Mutations?”
“Humans as we know them today are not what they were thousands of years ago or even hundreds of years ago. Each new generation demonstrates a new mutation, most subtle, but the effect accumulates over time. Seventy-three percent of the 1.15 million variants have been found in the last five thousand years.”
“What did you focus on?”
“Longevity. There are genetic mutations that shorten an individual’s life span and others that lengthen it. We were identifying different strands to create a process that would remove the damaging mutations while leaving the beneficial ones.”
“You could do that?”
“Not quite, but we were getting pretty close before … Well, you know. The company had just gotten a huge government contract. Everyone was excited, and then …” He shrugged.
“So it’s only been you guys since then?” Lyla asked.
Jerrold shook his head. “No. We came back because we had nowhere else to go. A few of the scientists came back a year or so later.” Jerrold shook his head. “They weren’t the same people they were before. They’d seen too much.”
“What happened?”
“Two took their lives. Three succumbed to illness. Some just wandered off and never came back. Soon it was just me, Elaine, our daughter Tiffany, Michael, Michelle, and Harold, the twins’ father. We managed for a long time on our own. Every once in a while, someone would find us. Some were good people. Some weren’t. Tiffany, she became pregnant after some not-so-good people came calling.”
Lyla’s head jolted up, and she looked at Iris.
“Iris is a blessing,” Jerrold said firmly. “No matter how she came to be, we never looked at her as anything other than a gift.”
After a bit of silence, he continued. “Harold, he died from the flu. Tiffany … she was out hunting. She didn’t notice the bear.”
“I’m sorry.”
Jerrold shook himself from his memories. “It was a long time ago, and I’m sure you have stories just as difficult.” He nodded to where Riley and Miles were helping Elaine. “They might call you their mom, but I don’t think you gave birth to either of them. You’re lucky to have found one another.”
“Yes, we are.”
“You two are way too serious,” Elaine said, walking over with a box of slides. “And I think this is the last of it. I think we’re ready.”
A tingle of anticipation rolled through Lyla. Finally, some answers.
44
Miles was having trouble keeping himself from just grabbing the microscope from Elaine. He had given Jerrold the slide of the Unwelcome blood first. That had been ten minutes ago. Jerrold had examined the slide silently, making some illegible notes on a notepad before moving over for Elaine to look. Finally, she moved back, and they conferred quietly.
Miles rolled his hand into a fist. He so wanted to butt into their conversation. Lyla was sitting patiently in a chair, waiting. Riley had actually curled up in the corner of the lab and gone to sleep.
“Calm down, Miles,” Riley said.
Miles turned to him. “I thought you were asleep.”
“Nope. Just relaxing while I can.”
“How can you relax right now?”
Riley cracked open one eye. “Exactly how is your frenetic pacing helping things?”
“It’s not,” Miles grumbled.
Riley started to stand. “Showtime.”
Miles whirled around to find Jerrold waving them over. Jerrold and Elaine remained seated on their stools.
“We’ve examined the sample, and we have some questions,” he said.
Lyla leaned against the table across from them. “Shoot.”
“Was the Unwelcome alive or dead when you retrieved the sample?”
“Alive.”
“How long ago did you take the sample?”
Lyla hesitated for a moment. “This morning.”
Surprise flashed across both the scientists’ faces. “My goodness.” Elaine’s hand flew to her neck. Miles noted the slight tremble in it.
Jerrold just nodded. “Uh-huh.” He looked at Elaine. She turned to Lyla. “Have you seen what they look like under their suits?”
Another pause. “Yes.”
“Is their skin blue, perchance?”
This time it was Lyla’s face that flashed surprise. “Yes.”
“How did you know that?” Miles asked, taking a step forward. Riley moved a little closer as well.
Jerrold waved Miles to the microscope. “Take a look.”
Miles looked through, his eyes taking moment to adjust. The blood sample was much clearer than when he’d seen it before. The higher magnification made everything stand out more. He frowned. The little dots he’d thought he’d seen before were much more clear under this magnification. “What is that?”
“We’ll need to do some follow-up tests to be sure, but we think it’s silver,” Elaine said.
“Silver?” Lyla asked.
“Yes. This sample is littered with it. We think that’s why they’re blue,” Elaine said.
Miles frowned. “I don’t understand. You mean the blue color isn’t genetic?”
Jerrold shook his head. “I don’t think so. I think the color is the result of an environmental contamination. Wherever they are from, silver was most likely in the air, the water, the food. And it changed their skin color.”
“So what color should they be?” Riley asked.
“That’s the other thing. It’s been a while since we’ve looked at blood cells, but this one is extremely close to human.”
Lyla narrowed her eyes. “What are you saying?”
But Miles knew exactly what they were getting at. His mouth fell open. “You mean, if they hadn’t been living in a silver-saturated environment, their skin would be like ours. They’d look human.”
Jerrold nodded. “Yes.”
45
Miles’s mind raced through all his conversations with Arthur. He struggled to say what he had to say without giving away Arthur in his excitement. “We actually believe that they’re not all the same shade of blue. That there is a variation in tone, like you see in humans.”
“Races,” Elaine said, looking at Jerrold with bright eyes. “It’s possible they have different races and ethnicities as well.”
“Okay,” Riley said, drawing out the word. “But humans have been exposed to silver in the past, and none of them are blue.”
“They would have to ingest the silver to change their skin tone,” Elaine said. “And humans who have done that have, in fact, turned blue.”
Lyla, Riley, and Miles gaped at her.
“There are blue humans?” Riley asked.
Elaine gave them a small smile. “It wasn’t common, but some people ingested silver as a health remedy. They believed that it boosted a person’s immune system and even treated cancer. Of course, there was no scientific research supporting that.”
“There’s even a genetic link,” Jerrold said. “Some humans have a recessive genetic condition called methemoglobinemia. It essentially means the individual produces too much hemoglobin. The result is the blood struggles to carry oxygen throughout the individual’s body, resulting in blue skin and lips and an almost brown-colored blood.”
“That happens?” Riley asked.
“Rarely. It’s not a common genetic condition. It seems to be pretty isolated and sadly is the result of inbreeding. There was a famous family called the Fugates where three quarters of the family was blue,” Elaine said.
“So humans have been blue,” Lyla said. “But you’re not saying the Unwelcome are humans?”
“I am not prepared to go that far. I’m not even prepared to say they have our skin tone, although we feel confident that the blue hue is the result of environmental factors.”
Miles stared at them. They’d looked at one sample for a few minutes and had just blown their minds. He quickly reached into his pack and pulled out the box Judith Carolina had made for him. He pulled out the slides of Lyla’s blood and Petra’s. “Can you look at some other samples?”
Jerrold rubbed his hands together. “You’d have a hard time stopping us.”
46
The Unwelcome were not naturally blue. Lyla pictured Arthur with human skin. Incredible. How different things might have been had his size been the only physical attribute that separated him from humans.
A laugh erupted from the hallway. Lyla whirled around, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. A man and a woman stood there. Both had long dark hair and a sallowness to their complexion. Body odor wafted toward Lyla as they stepped into the room.
“What’s this?” the woman demanded.
Jerrold nodded at them, tension in his shoulders. “Michelle, Michael. Glad you’re here. This is Lyla and her sons, Riley and Miles. They were looking for the Lab.”
“Is that so?” Michelle crossed her arms over her chest. In contrast, her brother stood in the doorway alternating between smiling and scowling.
“Uh, yes,” Jerrold said, playing with the collar of his shirt. Lyla looked between the twins and the two scientists. Iris had disappeared underneath a table. All three of them seemed nervous.
Michelle leaned against one of the tables. “You can’t just let people in here, Jerrold. It’s not safe. We don’t know anything about them.”
Michael slid in the door, angling toward her boys.
Lyla stepped between them. “Well, I’d be happy to answer any questions you have.”
A laugh burst out of Michael.
Riley’s gaze narrowed. “What’s so funny?”
Michael just grinned at him before scowling again.
Miles kept looking between the two of them, his brain no doubt categorizing every strange quirk.
Elaine brushed off the twins’ concerns. “No need for that. We’re just—”
Michelle cut her off. “We decide what’s necessary for our home’s security.”
Elaine blanched.
Lyla took a step forward. “Look, why don’t we step outside? You guys can ask me whatever questions you want, and they can finish up their work.”
Michelle gave her a hard stare before turning on her heel and marching into the hall. Michael followed her with a strange bobbing walk, as if he couldn’t touch the heels of his feet on the floor.
Riley stepped next to her. “I’ll go with you.”
Lyla shook her head, nodding to Miles and the others in the room. “You keep an eye out in here, okay?”
Riley glanced at the doorway. “Be careful.”
She squeezed his arm. “Always.”
Raising her voice, she addressed Jerrold and Elaine. “I’ll be right back.”
Squaring her shoulders, she headed for the twins, not sure what to expect.
47
Miles paced along the aisles between the tables, categorizing everything he knew about the Unwelcome and trying not to worry about Lyla. She could handle two people easily, but something was off with those two.
But concerned as he was, his mind kept going back to what Elaine and Jerrold had said before the twins had interrupted. The Unwelcome would probably look human if not for a silver-saturated environment.
He knew people had theorized that other life-forms could be similar to humans. Which made sense if the universe was seeded as some theorists argued. Which would mean that they would develop from the same DNA. DNA changed over time, adapting to the environment. Would that account for the Unwelcome’s size? Was their strength also an adaptation?
But even as he thought that, he wondered about their emotional state. According to Arthur, they never spoke or interacted socially. And they obviously had no difficulty with killing humans, even children. Of course, history was also littered with humans who had done the same. Had the Naku weeded out the Unwelcome who might be too sympathetic or too emotional? But then how did Arthur slip through?
They had one answer, and now he had dozens of additional questions rolling around in his brain.
“This can’t be right,” Jerrold muttered.
Miles turned to the doctor. “What’s the matter?”
“Are you sure you didn’t mislabel these samples?”
Miles shook his head, a sense of déjà vu coming over him. “No. But when I first looked at the samples, I thought I had as well. The shape of the nucleus, right?”
Jerrold nodded. “Would you be willing to give me another sample? You’re a Cursed, right?”
Miles felt light-headed at the idea. Blood was not his favorite thing.
“I’ll do it,” Riley offered, stepping forward.
Jerrold walked over to one of the cupboards and pulled out a bottle of rubbing alcohol. He moved to the sink and ran the alcohol over a scalpel. He walked back to Riley. “Hand, please.”
Riley proffered his hand. Jerrold held it, the hand with the scalpel shaking as it moved toward Riley’s finger.
Riley placed his hand over the doctor’s. “How about I do the cut?”
“Yes, that would probably be for the best.” Jerrold handed the scalpel to him.
Miles looked away as Riley made a small cut on the tip of one of his fingers. He turned back when Jerrold said, “All set.”
Riley held his finger to his mouth. Jerrold slid the slide back under the microscope. “Huh. Elaine, take a look.”
She slid her stool over. When she looked up, she said, “We need an adult sample.”
Riley spoke quickly. “Lyla’s not great with blood, either.”
Jerrold raised an eyebrow. “All right. Well, I’m game. Mind sterilizing that?”
Riley nodded before walking to the sink and running the alcohol over the scalpel. He walked back to Jerrold and took his extended left hand. “Ready?”
Jerrold nodded, looking away.
Riley made a tiny swipe. Jerrold sucked in a breath. Elaine quickly placed Jerrold’s finger over the slide, and two drops splattered onto it. She released Jerrold’s hand, and he immediately pressed the edge of his shirt to it.
Elaine slid the other slide out and the one with Jerrold’s blood in. She looked through the eyepiece, adjusting the focus. Finally she sat back. “I’m not sure what to make of this.”
Miles leaned forward. “What is it?”
She flipped her pad to a new page and drew three separate shapes. “Okay, these are the shapes of the nuclei in the three samples.”
Miles nodded. Two of the shapes were essentially the same, barring Elaine’s poor artistic ability. But the third was noticeably different, with a more squarelike shape to the nucleus.
“Which one is the Unwelcome’s?” Elaine asked.
Riley pointed to the squared nucleus. “That one, obviously.”
Elaine spoke slowly. “Yes, that one is noticeably different, while the other two are identical.”
“That’s not the Unwelcome’s nucleus, is it?” Miles asked.
Elaine shook her head. “No. According to these samples, it’s not the Unwelcome that is a different species. It’s the Cursed.”
48
Lyla stepped into the hall and found it empty. She frowned, walking slowly toward the living quarters. She glanced into the kitchen, but there was no one there. A search of the bedrooms showed the same. She stepped back into the hall, looking around. Where had the twins gone?
She made her way to the stairwell door. It had been left ajar. Lyla raised an eyebrow. If the twins were actually concerned about safety, they had a funny way of showing it. She opened the door. The stairs leading down were dark, and a strange smell drifted up toward her. She had no intention of going down there.
Noting their weapons hadn’t been touched, she quickly belted her sword around her waist and looped her staff across her chest. She headed up the stairs, searching the dark corners of the stairwell as she moved until she reached the door leading to the first floor. A low murmur of voices and then Michael’s laugh came from the other side of the door.
She opened the door and peered out. The foyer was empty, but she could hear voices from just outside. Lyla moved forward slowly, frowning as the words became more recognizable. Were they singing? She reached the edge of the room and peered through the missing panes of glass. The twins were on the other side of the clearing playing patty-cake. Lyla stared at them, not sure what the heck was going on.
Michelle turned and caught sight of Lyla as she stepped out of the building. A smile burst across her face as she skipped over to Lyla. “Oh, hey, there you are. I’m Michelle.” She extended her hand.
Lyla shook it slowly. “Lyla.”
“Lyla, what a pretty name.” She grabbed onto Lyla’s arm and dragged her over to some logs that had been pulled into a circle. “Come on. Tell me all about yourself.”
“Uh …”
Michelle let go of her and took a seat. Michael sat across from her, rocking back and forth. Both of them looked up at Lyla. Lyla was struggling to figure out what had just happened. The two siblings sitting in front of her now were nothing like the people she had met downstairs.
“So, where are you guys from?” Michelle tapped her leg on the ground.
Lyla carefully sat down, the twins’ emotional shift leaving her on edge. “We’re from out east.”
Lyla explained to the twins about Attlewood and the Unwelcome. Michelle stared at her the whole time she spoke, barely blinking. Michael just laughed every now and then. Finally, Lyla stopped speaking.
Michelle’s smile disappeared. “You expect us to believe that?”
“Which part?”
“That you took kids in who weren’t yours?” Michael asked.
Lyla wasn’t sure how to answer that. After all, Riley and Miles were right downstairs. They’d seen them. But before she could reply, Michelle and Michael stood up and walked into the woods. Lyla sat staring after them, her mouth hanging open.
While she’d been speaking, Michael had rocked in place the entire time. Michelle had stared at her, but her whole body had been tense and shaky, even as she smiled at Lyla. And then that shift at the end. What was with those two?
