Asterion (13 page)

Morning comes quickly and Taylor sleepily rolls out of bed. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he rubs his eyes and tries to work past the fatigue and stress that rule his life now. He gets ready to face the morning and makes his way to the break room and he smells the scent of fresh coffee already brewed. He wonders who is there and entering the break room, he sees Milar sitting at the table.

“Good, you’re up. We caught your stalker.”

“My stalker, I thought he was following Christine.”

“No, no, we followed him around for a while and he definitely had more interest in your place. I think he followed Christine to get to you. We arrested him and found out he is a Christer.”

“Oh, really,” Taylor coyly replied.

“Some radical branch out of the South Central Province based upon what information we can gather. He’s not talking though. Tough cookie, but even cookies break eventually,”

Christine stumbles in half asleep and appears surprised by what she hears about the stalker.

“What is he after?”

Milar replies, “Don’t know. Anyway, it’s safe to go home if you need to, but watch your back. No way to know if he had friends.” Milar leaves and disappears down the hall.

Christine looks at Taylor. “Where does she go?”

Taylor shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know, but you never see her until she wants you to see her.”

Christine shivers, “Kind of weird.”

At that moment, they hear a loud crash from the lab. Racing in they see a large shelf tipped over and laying on a table in Asterion’s chamber. He is hiding in a corner and Taylor approaches him. “Are you alright?”

Asterion smiles back sheepishly. He scrunched up his nose and mouth and his twisted lips show his attempt to smooth things over with Taylor. Taylor is astonished when Asterion replies, “Yes.”

“You can talk now. Christine did you hear that?”

“Yes, that’s remarkable.”

From that time, Asterion shows remarkable strides as he grows up before their eyes. Cries in the night for attention marked his progress. Food, drink and comfort for a bad dream are the usual routine for Asterion. Like a child, he clung to Taylor and Christine when he needed attention and comfort. It is hard not to think of Asterion as a real child except when he did not know his own strength and the frailty of humans. His appetite for learning and food also grows as he moves past infancy to adolescence and on to maturity.

Taylor turns to Christine one night on the couch. “I did not plan for him to be this intelligent. Does that mean he has a soul?

Christine thinks a bit and turns to Taylor, “Hard to know. How could we determine if he has a soul or is it impossible to know?”

Taylor shakes his head. “Wow, it seemed so simple in the beginning. Now that he has human intelligence, the line between man and beast is blurred.”

Christine has an idea. “Wait a minute. We can give him the Bible and other literature on God and answer his questions. Just like we do with the educational material he gets.”

“Great, we can say that he must understand everything about culture in order to understand differences between people.”

Christine asks, “What if he wants to accept Christ?”

“If he wants to, then he must have a soul.”

Christine frustratingly laments, “If he doesn’t, we won’t know either way. Lots of people reject Christ and religion.”

Taylor squeezes her shoulders. “We’ll just have to wait until then,”

Taylor walks into Asterion’s chamber and he hears Christine singing a lullaby. His mother sung this one to him as a child. He chokes up and remains out of site until he can compose himself. Entering with a smile, he greets Christine and Asterion. Asterion runs to meet him and he gathers him in his arms.

With a grunt Taylor says, “I’m not going to be able to do this much longer. You’re getting too heavy.”

Asterion studies his face and replies, “I’ll carry you daddy. I’ll carry you and mom everywhere.”

They all laugh. Except for Asterion’s appearance, it could be a warm moment in any loving home.

A few days later, Taylor and Christine are in the lab talking about Asterion’s progress when Milar interrupts them. “Christine, your stalker wants to talk to you.”

“Why?” says Christine with a shrill voice.

“I don’t know, but maybe you can find out something important if you do talk to him.”

Christine thinks fast, “Well, he probably won’t talk if he thinks he could be recorded.”

“He already made that observation and suggested an open field with no one within a thousand feet. He will pick the exact spot in the field where he can verify his and your privacy. I told him it could only take place if he wore an incapacitation collar, you would have a controller, and from a distance, Taylor would have a controller. He agreed only after protesting about Taylor having a controller. Do you know of any reason why he would protest you having one?”

Taylor, caught off guard stumbles over his words, “Well, huh, I, uh, guess it is because he has seen Christine and me together and he is afraid I might take revenge on him.”

“Yea, that’s probably it. So, is it a go?”

Christine responds, “Sure, I think it will be safe.”

“Now, you have to pay attention to his gestures, facial expressions, hesitations and excitability. Not just his words, but those are important also. We can see him from a distance, but I’m sure he’s clever enough to cover his mouth so we can’t read his lips.”

Milar leaves them alone again and they turn to each other. Taylor sighs with relief, “I thought she would discover we are freedom sympathizers.”

“Me to, I wonder who he is and why is he here.”

“I don’t know, but be careful. Stand a few arms’ lengths away from him and be ready to respond to any sudden movements on his part.”

“I will.”

Their attention turns to Asterion. His growth has brought him to the young adult stage. Displaying boundless energy, he challenges himself with the various exercise equipment and obstacle course set up for him in the large assembly room at the facility. He spots them and quickly swings from ropes to land in front of them. At over six feet, he is an imposing figure. He smiles at them and says in an adult voice, which resonates through his snout in a low, bellowing voice, “Hi mom, Hi dad.” His laugh rises from his throat to fill the room.

Christine remarks, “Well, you have no trouble understanding humor. What about religion, have you learned anything about that concept?”

Asterion thinks a bit, “Someone or something that requires a response and responsibility from his or her creation to escape its failings. I don’t know. Science says no, but can’t prove where we came from and religion relies on faith in the unseen. Maybe the answer is we aren’t sure.”

Taylor encourages him, “Well, keep pondering the subject and if you have any questions, or need more information, just let us know.”

Asterion nods in acknowledgement and Taylor and Christine let him go back to his play.

Christine walks beside Taylor. “You know, he is already big enough to rip us apart in seconds.”

“Yea, it’s hard not to show fear in front of him. He still treats us like his parents. I keep waiting for the day when that changes.”

Christine apprehensively responds, “I’m not looking forward to that day either.”

CHAPTER 16 - VIEW FROM THE OUTSIDE

Milar walks into the break room where Taylor and Christine are taking an afternoon breather. “It’s set up. Let’s go. I’ll take you to the field and Christine can find out what she can from this guy.”

Christine looks at Taylor with a worried look. Taylor reassures her, “They won’t let anything happen to you. There will be a sniper or multiple snipers watching his every move. I’ll be there watching you through binoculars.”

“It still makes me nervous,”

They step out of the facility and cross the empty field towards Milar with her security detail watching the stalker. Christine stops and looks at the individual for the first time up close. She knows him, but does not let anyone know. She looks at Milar and she ushers with her hand toward the middle of the field. She looks at Taylor, they exchange nervous smiles and she walks with the shackled man to the middle of the field.

Standing there in the field, the man looks around. Satisfied that they can’t hear from that distance, he asks Christine, “Are you wearing any surveillance?”

“No.”

“Do you remember me?”

“Yes.”

Covering his mouth to prevent lip reading he speaks softly, “We, I mean Christians know of your activities with Taylor Scott. We think that you are playing God with these experiments. He is a dangerous man, Godless and manipulating.”

Christine begins to speak when he tells her to cover her mouth. Covering her mouth, she responds sternly, “You are wrong about Taylor. He is one of us.”

“One of us?” he responds with contempt.

“Yes, one of us, Taylor is only genetically engineering animals to create better, stronger and more useful animals. We worship and study together. We have watched the documentaries circulating around. He would never knowingly create an abomination.”

He interrupts her, “Well you better be careful. He would not be the first to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

She shoots back, “No, hurt him and you hurt me. Let’s make that clear up front. I trust him and he trusts me. You are jeopardizing our chances of making sure the government does not step out of bounds.”

“You can’t control the government. Think about what you are doing and get away from it before the evil consumes you. The environmental impact of your research cannot be determined with any certainty. It could wreck this world.”

“It won’t. I’ll see what I can do about getting them to set you free, but you have to promise not to come spying around. We’ll contact you.”

“We’ll,” he sarcastically responds, “You mean you and him.”

She looks him in the eye. “Yes.”

He agrees and Christine motions towards the waiting group that everything is okay.

They walk back to the waiting security detail and they escort him away. Milar turns to Christine and asks, “Did you learn anything?”

“He is an old acquaintance of my family and he is a bit of an environmental nut. He’s worried the experiments are going to harm things. He’s really harmless.”

Milar hesitates, “Well, we don’t have anything on him. If you are absolutely sure he is not a danger to you and Taylor, we’ll release him and give him train fare.”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Okay.” She turns to the guards, “Process him out of here.”

Taylor and Christine return the lab and she fills him in on the conversation.

Taylor responds to the news, “Why does everyone think I am committing some horrible act here? I’m just trying to make this a better world.”

Christine replies, “I know and I support you, I’m working here aren’t I.”

Taylor sighs, “I know, but I would hate to think we are viewed as enemies by the very group we belong to.

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but it’s you they don’t like,” Christine smiled.

Taylor shook his head. “Great!”

They moved from the outer lab to Asterion’s chamber to check on his progress. Asterion’s last growth spurt qualified him as an adult. “What’s my purpose?” Asterion asked.

Taylor had not thought much about what he would say when that question came up in conversation. “Well, you were created as the first of a new species of animal.”

“Animal, I’m not an animal,” Asterion replied.

“Well that was the plan in the beginning, but you are much more than that now. Except for appearance, you are like us. Even better, you are stronger, bigger and as smart as anyone I’ve ever encountered.”

“But what is my purpose?” Asterion persisted.

“Anything you want to do in life. Have you thought about the larger question of why we are here?”

Asterion thinks for a while and replies, “A belief in God seems implausible to me. It does not agree with scientific thought and I am really the product of scientific thought and experimentation. If I was the beast of burden you intended, how would you have treated me? Would I be in a stall with straw for my bed? Would I eat and drink from a trough slop and dirty water?”

Taylor feels the pressure of his questions and knows that Asterion is right. A few DNA strands from being a dumb beast and a much different life are certainly questions to ponder. “Look, don’t think about what could or might have happened. If a bus hit me or I died of some sickness yesterday, then today would be different for everyone in my life. We can’t live by ifs unless those ifs become the dreams we strive to make real. That is why Christine and I trust God. He has a plan for us and we trust that plan. There is something larger than us and we can see Him in the trees waving in the breeze, the warm green grass under our feet, the sky, the land and oceans that are filled with His creation and at night, the vastness of the universe and the sights that awe us.”

“I don’t know, those are sentimental words, but they don’t prove anything. I can’t test any of it and I’m not sure about faith.”