Purity (Pure and Tainted) (15 page)

Ilesca had at least been telling the truth about the space
underground, K saw as they finished their long descent. The narrow staircase
opened out into a huge area—clearly it was a natural cavern that had been
molded into a living quarters. In contrast with the wide, empty room above it
was lavishly furnished with a thick purple carpet and fixtures and furniture made
of shiny brass and glass. The ceiling was so high it was difficult to make out
what the lighting fixtures were made of but they cast a warm golden glow over
everything that seemed to make the large space
more cozy
somehow. K distrusted it at once.

“This is some lab you’ve got here. Where’s the equipment?” Boone
said scanning the huge room.

“This way.”
Ilesca led them through what
appeared to be some kind of a sitting area with comfortable brass-studded
leather furniture and tall bookcases filled with old fashioned paper volumes.
After that they came to a dining area much like the one on the ship although
the furniture was considerably more elegant and less battered. A food prep area
followed and then they came to a large shiny brass wall with a narrow hallway
down the middle and a door on either side.

“We have no natural partitions here so we’ve had to build some.”
Ilesca nodded at the wall. “We use a lot of brass because the metals to make it
are most common on Minotaur. The door to the left leads to our guest sleeping
quarters. And this leads to Father’s lab.” She pressed a series of buttons on
the shiny wall beside it and the door on the right slid open with a soft
whoosh.
“Please come in.”

K went before Boone without asking. She assumed Loki was bringing
up the rear but she didn’t really care. Her interest was in what danger might
lie ahead, behind the tall, polished brass wall.

Inside the space was partitioned into rooms of varying sizes.
Ilesca led them past several doorways and down to the very end where it opened
into a much larger area. K looked suspiciously for any signs of a trap but all
she could see were several large pieces of expensive looking computer equipment
as well as some counters and stools, all made of brass. There was a glass
partition at the end of the room which seemed to contain cages, though what
kind of animals were inside, K couldn’t tell.

“Well, well, well—Doctor Boone.
Such a
pleasure!”
A tall cadaverously thin man with a shock of thick white hair
came through a side door that appeared to lead to a small, inner office and
held out a hand to Boone.

“Doctor Abrahams.” Boone took the offered hand and gave it a firm
shake. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

“None of it good, I’m sure.” Abrahams cackled in delight at his
bad reputation. He was wearing strange brass and crystal goggles that shielded
his eyes from view and he stared up at Boone myopically. “My, they do grow them
tall on Colossus, don’t they?”

“I’m on the big side even by Colossian standards.” Boone grinned
charmingly. “My mom always joked that dad must have put
quick-
grow
in her caffeine brew when she was carrying me.”

“I can certainly see why.” Abrahams cackled again. “And who are these
two—your assistants?”

“This is Loki, our pilot. And this is K—she’s a fourth level
Paladin.”

“She’s his bodyguard,” Ilesca put in nastily, her whiskers
twitching.

Doctor Abrahams appeared to remember that he was wearing the brass
and crystal goggles because he slipped them up to sit on the top of his head in
order to study K more closely. “Indeed? You have a fourth level Purist Paladin
as a bodyguard? I must say, Doctor Boone, I am most impressed.”

“She’s not actually—” Loki began.

“Still a Purist,” K finished for him smoothly. There was no way
she was going to let Ilesca and her father see any division between herself and
the others in her group—it wasn’t tactically sound. “That is to say, I still
adhere to the precepts of Purity but I have been contaminated and so cannot go
back to Athena,” she added.

“
Which explains the absence of your skinsuit, no
doubt.
” Abrahams nodded at K’s expression of surprise. “Oh yes, my dear,
I know much about your kind. I have studied the Purists methods of genetics for
generations. There is much that is admirable in the way your people mix
DNA—admirable but flawed.”

“What do you mean?” Boone asked, stepping up and putting a hand on
K’s shoulder. “K’s case is… unique. I’d appreciate any insight you might have
on the matter.”

“Why merely that they refuse to use
all the resources available to them.
The solar
system is filled with strange and
wonderful creatures—why not use
them?”

“Because human/animal hybrids tend
to be unstable.
They can’t reconcile the two halves of their nature which most often leads to
madness or death,” Boone said sharply.

“Do I look mad to you, Doctor Boone?” Ilesca stepped toward him,
her whiskers twitching. “I assure you, I am not though Doctor Abrahams is my
father and my mother was a common tabby feline from Earth-that-was was.”

Loki looked at the white haired doctor and made a face. “You had
sex with a
cat
?”

Abrahams laughed.
“Oh dear me, no.
I must
agree with the Purists on that point—asexual is the only correct method of
reproduction. What my darling Ilesca means is that I mixed my own DNA and that
of my pet cat, Madam Curie, in order to make her. So while the cat was her
genetic
mother, she was actually
conceived and carried to term in an artificial womb.”

K knew the idea that the cat-woman had been conceived and born the
same way she herself had, ought to make her feel better but somehow it didn’t. She
frowned. “This is all very interesting but we’re here to get our ship fixed and
move on. Can you tell us what you want from Boone in order to make that
happen?”

“K—” Boone began but Abrahams laughed and shook his head.

“Now, now, don’t be upset, Doctor Boone. Your bodyguard poses a
very reasonable question. After all, her only interest is protecting you and
sadly, I must confess that the township
of Jamesville and the
surrounding territories can no longer be considered strictly, well,
safe
.”

K frowned, wishing again for her gauntlets. “Then what are we
doing down here? Why did you bring us here in the first place?”

“Oh
this
area is safe
enough.” Abrahams nodded vigorously, as though assuring them it was true. “It’s
just the aboveground areas—the town itself—that is in danger.”

“Oh, is
that
all?” Loki
muttered.

Boone cleared his throat. “How many people live in Jamesville?”

Abrahams shrugged. “Four or five hundred humans and hybrids, give
or take.
Less since the last attack.”

“Attack?”
K and Loki spoke at the same time
and K shot the Erian a glare which he returned with interest.

“Who or what attacked you?” Boone asked. “And how do you expect me
to help?”

“We’ll get to that in a minute.” Abrahams made a shooing gesture
as though it was a pesky, minor detail. “First, Doctor Boone, I would be
honored if you would view some of my work.” He nodded at the glass partition at
the end of the room where K could see cages.

“Only if I come with him,” she said before Boone could open his
mouth.

“But of course,” Abrahams said smoothly.
“This
way.
And perhaps your other colleague—Loki was it?—would care to see our
guest quarters. Ilesca dear, show him, won’t you?”

K thought it was a mistake to separate—not that she considered
Loki much of a backup. But after a short nod at Boone, the Erian followed
Ilesca out of the lab without a murmur of protest.
Foolish,
K
thought,
watching him go. She was determined not to be parted from Boone for any reason
and silently told him so with a look. He nodded back gravely and allowed her to
precede him through the glass partition as Abrahams led the way.

“I’m very proud of my creations,” the scientist said, taking them
to the far cage at the end of the long glass room. “Though most of them have
only a little human DNA—just enough to boost their intelligence. Take this one
for instance.” He nodded at the cage which was large enough to walk into. A
creature with both fur and feathers crouched in the corner of the cage, eyeing
them mistrustfully.

Boone frowned. “What is it?”

“A hybrid of a baboon and an
African grey parrot.
I often use DNA from species from Earth-that-was—it tends to be more stable,”
Abrahams explained.

K frowned. “What is the point of such a creature? Why create a
mixture of the two?”

“Aside from the pure scientific data that such a mixture
generates, I try to make new species that will be useful in some way. This
little fellow might not look like much now, but he will be an excellent lab
assistant in the future. He’ll have a baboon’s ability to manipulate objects
and a parrot’s ability to speak. Won’t you, Manny?”

The creature, which had a long, sharp curving beak, ambled forward
on all fours to the front of the cage. “Yes…Doctor,” it said in a high,
screechy voice that put K’s nerves on edge.

Abrahams winced. “That will do, Manny.” He nodded at the
baboon/parrot hybrid and then looked back at Boone. “I’m still working on the
voice.”

“Mm-hmm.”
Boone nodded impartially. K wondered
what he really thought.

“Well, continuing on…” Abrahams showed them the contents of the
other cages, most of them mixtures of two, three, or even four other species. He
told what DNA each contained and their future function, speaking mostly to
Boone.

K had grown up in a purely industrial area on a planet where most
of the animals had become extinct but she had seen enough footage of
Earth-that-was to understand what its animals were supposed to look like. None
of Abrahams’ hybrids looked right to her and from the look in Boone’s eyes, he
felt the same but he only nodded politely as the white-haired doctor showed
them cage after cage of aberrations.

As they were studying an animal that was a cross between a type of
salamander native to Pan and an Earth-that-was rat, K had a sudden thought. Did
Boone see her the way he saw Abrahams’ strange creations? After all, she was a
hybrid herself, in a way. She didn’t think she had any animal DNA but she was
certainly a strange case. A Puritan with Erian DNA—one might as well cross a
soft, furry bunny rabbit with a prickly porcupine.
Which,
incidentally, was one of the few things Abrahams seemed to have missed.

“I’m especially fond of these though they have only a trace amount
of human DNA,” he was saying as they reached the last cage in the row.

“What are they?” Boone asked, squatting down to peer into the
rather low cage.

K stooped down as well. The creatures inside were no larger than
her hand and all of them had sharply pointed ears and long muzzles with huge, clear
crystalline eyes. Their long bodies had reddish fur with black spots and their
slender tails whipped excitedly from side to side.

“These are a nice mixture—fox, miniature cheetah, and volkhound
from Colossus.”

“A volkhound?”
Boone frowned. “Those have been
extinct for the last eighty cycles.”

“Indeed.” Abrahams nodded. “A great shame since they are most
charming creatures. I was able to obtain a sample of their DNA from some well
preserved specimens. I don’t like to tell you how much I paid—they’re collector’s
items, after all. But it was well worth it.”

“I’ve never seen a live one,” Boone straightened up and K did too.
“Weren’t they supposed to be mildly telepathic?”

“Empathetic is more like it. They sense the emotions of others and
act accordingly. In fact, they
feed
off
emotions in a way—they siphon off negative feelings like fear and pain and anger.”

“Huh.
An animal version of valium.”
For
the first time, Boone looked really impressed.

Abrahams shrugged. “Oh, hardly that, though it’s true the person
whose negative emotions the animal takes feels slightly calmer afterwards.”

“Still, it’s quite impressive. You say they have almost no human
DNA?”

“Just a trace amount—enough to give
them the ability to understand the rudiments of our speech.
Though, unlike some of my other
creations, they cannot speak themselves.”

“That might not be such a bad thing,” K murmured, thinking of the
screechy voice of the parrot-monkey. Boone raised an eyebrow at her but
Abrahams was much too busy talking about his “creation” to notice her sarcasm.

“I’m sure you can see the value of such an animal. They could be
of great use in a number of places—med centers, care facilities for the mentally
or terminally ill…the possibilities are endless. Just imagine!”

“Fascinating.”
Boone nodded.
“And
pretty damn cute.
Look at these little guys.” He whistled softly at the
creatures and all of their ears pricked up, their jeweled eyes focusing on him
in obvious interest.