I enjoyed that for a lingering minute, letting the suspense build. I was relaxing; the images from the "home movies" were receding.
Then I took a peek to see who was in the room with me.
"What the?"
My eyes shot all the way open. The female figure lying beside me had s.h.a.ggy blond hair, the most beautiful blue eyes, and a face that was a dead ringer for that of my sister, Lucy.
That was what was lurking deep in my imagination? Lucy? That criminal. A human? It had to be a fluke, I told myself. The idea was only there because of what my mother"s clone had suggested in the kitchen. was what was lurking deep in my imagination? Lucy? That criminal. A human? It had to be a fluke, I told myself. The idea was only there because of what my mother"s clone had suggested in the kitchen.
But Lucy"s mouth couldn"t have tasted sweeter, and she definitely had a great body. And-she wanted wanted me. G.o.d, I me. G.o.d, I was was vulnerable, wasn"t I? vulnerable, wasn"t I?
Then I thought-how could it hurt? She was literally a figment of my imagination. Just a fantasy, a dream girl, harmless adult entertainment.
"Tell me your name," I said, curious about what she would say.
She gave me a sly look-like she knew what I was thinking.
Suddenly, a loud bang bang bang bang bang bang sounded. It took me a few seconds to realize someone was knocking on the window of the car. sounded. It took me a few seconds to realize someone was knocking on the window of the car.
Chapter 44 44.
I YANKED OFF the mood helmet and rolled down the pod"s window. Well, what do you know? Well, what do you know?
The real Lucy was standing there, watching me with a frown, or maybe it was a self-satisfied smirk. Humans were known to be prudish, even puritanical, after all.
"You look like you were sucking on a lemon slice," she said. "Playdate?"
"For G.o.d"s sake, can"t anyone have some privacy around here?"
Her face turned serious. "Let"s not hate each other for the moment. We got off to a bad start, I know, but we were just doing what we had to."
"I had had to do what I did, yeah. But I don"t get why you and your thugs to do what I did, yeah. But I don"t get why you and your thugs had had to attack me." to attack me."
"Maybe we"re thugs to Elites-but to humans, we"re freedom fighters. Like I told you, we weren"t out to kill you-we just needed to make it look that way. Our object was to bring you here..."
"Well, here I am. My life is a total wasteland now. Happy?"
She sighed. "Ecstatic. I"m on my way to go fishing. Want to come?"
Fishing? How crazy was that? But I did have a few questions for Lucy. So many questions, I didn"t know where to start.
So I put away the mood helmet, climbed out of the car, and walked with her toward the beach.
"Don"t take this as a compliment, but you know more about high-level Elite operations than any other human in the world," Lucy said. "That makes you extremely valuable to us. You"ve even been called "the Savior"!"
I snorted with amus.e.m.e.nt. "I"ve just found out that everything I ever believed is a lie-and that my parents are the ones who started the lie. So now I should just take your side and join the human race in oblivion? I should help to save save them?" them?"
"I certainly understand your feelings, Hays, but you"d better believe they"re getting ready to wipe us out-soon. That"s right, I said us us."
Actually, I couldn"t argue with what Lucy said. I"d heard it myself from President Jacklin.
"You"re probably angry at your mother and father," Lucy continued. "But think about how hard it must have been for them. Performing surgery on their own little boy, then sending him away into the enemy"s camp. Maybe to die."
Suddenly, I remembered the home movie scene of Mom weeping inside the operating room.
Then it struck me how Lucy had phrased that last sentence.
"My mother and father?" I said. "So it"s true that you"re not really my sister?" mother and father?" I said. "So it"s true that you"re not really my sister?"
"My own parents were their best friends. My folks died when I was a baby, and they adopted me. But you and I do have a biological connection. Your mom and dad enhanced me surgically, just like they did for you, beano. Our brains have implants from the same chip set, and some of our organ tissue is cloned from the same sources. You do the biology."
Shaking my head in confusion, I stepped into the boathouse, which was filled with familiar old smells of fishy water and musty equipment, and started loading gear into the skiff.
"That"s terrible, losing parents so young," I said. "Both at once? Some kind of accident?"
"No, it was totally deliberate," she said. "The Elites declared them enemies of the state-and then executed them. Your friend Jax Moore did the job himself. Someday I"ll cut off both his murdering hands, fry "em in bacon grease, and eat them."
"Ah," I said, "well put."
Chapter 45 45.
LUCY SAT PERCHED in the bow of the skiff as I rowed out onto the clear, smooth waters of the bay. Even though she"d had a lifetime to absorb it, the pain of her parents" death still must have cut very deep. It certainly seemed that way. I was starting to understand humans better, and to feel something for them-other than contempt, that is.
"Finally, some unexplained things are starting to fall into place," I said. "I couldn"t figure out what my sensors were telling me that night. I was sure you weren"t an Elite. But I didn"t know anything about humans being able to be enhanced to this degree."
She nodded. "Just to set the record straight-I"m more more enhanced than you are. I came along later and the technology was improved. Sorry, enhanced than you are. I came along later and the technology was improved. Sorry, bro bro."
I stopped rowing in mid-stroke. "You"ve got to be joking. You are, are, aren"t you?" aren"t you?"
"I"m simply stating a scientific fact."
"Not possible," I said, and dropped the oars back into the water.
"You think I can"t can"t compete with you?" compete with you?"
I didn"t bother to answer.
"Remember, I"ve seen you in action. But you"ve never really seen my my moves," she continued to taunt in a lighthearted way. moves," she continued to taunt in a lighthearted way.
I shrugged. "I don"t need to see your moves. I know what I"m capable of. Few, if any, Elites Elites can match me for strength, speed, problem solving." can match me for strength, speed, problem solving."
Lucy put her fists on her hips. "You"re starting to make me very mad. I"ll race you to the house."
"From here?" I glanced around. We were about a mile from the beach.
"Why not? You can swim, can"t you, superman? superman?"
I shook my head and grinned. "I"ll do my best. What are the stakes?"
"Sheer satisfaction, and bragging rights, of course."
She kicked off her sneakers, unb.u.t.toned her shirt and tossed it aside. Then she wriggled out of her jeans, leaving herself in a halter top and panties-which were turquoise blue and nicely revealing.
I pulled off my boots and shirt and stood up.
"You"re going to leave your pants on?" she said.
The uncomfortable truth was that when I"d been hurrying to buy new clothes, I"d forgotten to get underwear.
"I"ll take my chances."
"Whatever you say, hotshot. Quit staring at my legs though."
"Sorry. But, you know, there they are."
"Not for long. Ready?"
"Any time."
"How about now! now!"
We dove off the boat at the same instant, both with powerful arcing leaps that carried us a good ten yards.
But actually, Lucy hit the water at least a couple of feet ahead of me. I couldn"t believe it.
I stayed under for another hundred yards, aware of Lucy right beside me. She was slicing through the water like a seal.
By the time we broke the surface, her lead had increased to half a body length, and those strong thighs of hers were churning along-next to my head.
I attacked the remaining distance with ferocious strokes, moving faster than the fastest human could run.
But by the time my toes found the sandy bottom, she was scampering up the beach, her turquoise behind twitching back and forth as if it were waving good-bye.
That iced it.
I was d.a.m.ned if I was going to let her outrun me too.
With the two of us bounding along like giant, insane gra.s.shoppers, I poured on everything I had, springing after her in huge stretching leaps, barely skimming the ground when I touched down. Each time, my longer legs gained a step on her, and as the house came into sight and loomed closer, the two of us were in a dead heat.
I couldn"t let her win-not twice twice in the same race. in the same race.
I landed on the porch an instant before Lucy did. But before I could declare any kind of victory, she turned and said, "I let you win-the run."
Then my "sister" disappeared inside the house.
Chapter 46 46.
I HAD TO retrieve the skiff, and when I got back to the house, my father was sitting out on the porch. Just the sight of Dad there brought back the most powerful memories of past times at the lake.
"I"d like to chat," I told him. "I really need to talk some things through. Like 7-4 Day."
"Can"t help you," he said, shaking his head. "I"m a clone."
Like Mom"s, this one appeared to be an exact duplicate-with a beard, hat, and worn-out work clothes. Antic.i.p.ating my next question, it said, "We take care of most of the ch.o.r.es and require no pay. Slavery at its very best."
"Where"s my father then?"
"Working in the lab. Where else? Nice chatting with you, son. son."
Shaking my head, but smiling at the "slavery" line, I walked down the stairway to the underground lab and found my father sitting in front of a bank of monitors that lined one wall.
Some of them showed maps of different areas around the globe and contained colored cl.u.s.ters that looked like they represented populations. Others were flashing coded messages.
"Feeling better?" Dad asked, swinging his chair around to face me.
"Suppose I did agree to fight against the Elites," I said. "Then what happens?"
He pointed to the bank of monitors. "I"m in contact with resistance leaders around the world. We were just discussing you."
"Around the world? What are you talking about now? There"s nothing out there but... savages."
"That"s what the Elite leadership wants everybody to believe, Hays. Things are actually much more organized on our side than they like to let on."
So, more government lies. Supposedly, Elites made up only about 5 percent of the world"s population. But they controlled North America, and their military power kept the rest of the world cowed into submission. The official story was that other continents were crowded with humans, dirty and barbaric, and the only Elites actually allowed to travel there were government and corporate insiders.
So what was the real real story? I suspected that I was about to find out. story? I suspected that I was about to find out.