Charged - Book One (25 page)

Hybrid or not, she was not his property and I would
do something about it. Something she certainly wouldn’t agree with
and hopefully she would forgive me for. I would confront Danel and
force him, one way or another, to release her to me. And now that I
was changed and stronger than him, another confrontation sounded
just fine.

I searched Ben’s memories for information about Danel
and Kye, but it was jumbled together with memories of Romans and
Egyptians in a tunnel-like view. I wouldn’t let Ben’s emotions for
Danel cloud my thinking or my actions. I could sense Danel’s hatred
for humans swimming over me, even now. I quickly shoved this out of
my brain, my human brain that just wouldn’t show me the memories I
needed to see.

I grew irritated by my limited human mind that
wouldn’t allow me to know or remember what tied Kye to Danel. I
wanted Kye; I wanted Kye forever. At this point, I had no choice. I
would force him to let her go. I kissed her cheek gently and
assured her I wouldn’t speak of this to anyone. I left the medical
lab thinking of only one thing, which I masked from Kye: what I was
going to do or have to do to Danel.

IT HAD BEEN TWO DAYS since I’d seen Kye and, to say
the least, I wasn’t happy. Not by her avoiding me, but by my own
actions. Surely, she felt what I intended to do to Danel and she
disapproved. She knew I would physically hurt him, if I had to. And
no one was talking to me, not even Boyd. It was as if I’d already
confronted Danel. It was like a private e-mail was sent out to
exile me and I just wasn’t informed. Even Aaron was too busy with
Jessica to notice I existed.

I found Boyd’s suite and tried to talk to him. I
showed up with full humility and confusion, but he wouldn’t let me
in. He brushed against me with his emotions, which were almost
unbearable and I had to leave quickly. I felt sick with his
presence; it was full of pain and love for Ben and Alma. It was
like he was trying to warn me of something, but I literally bent
over with nausea in front of his door. He seemed sad that I was now
sensitive like the others.

I thought if I gave Kye some space that she would
come to me, talk to me. Or that maybe I would discover something in
Ben’s memories that I hadn’t seen before. But I didn’t and
everything was still scrambled. I decided I would do what I wanted.
I would search everywhere for Kye, even where they said was
off-limits and if I couldn’t find her, I would threaten Danel. I
would have a nice talk with him… no. There would be nothing nice
about it.

I didn’t care if he was the oldest male now that Ben
was gone. He wasn’t my boss and never would be. After one hundred
and thirteen corridors and thirty labs, I headed straight for
Danel’s suite. I paused for a long moment outside of his door,
blocking everything I was feeling and thinking. I was getting
better at this. I tried to access the panel to open the doors, but
it was locked, so I pushed my entire weight against them and tore
them from the walls themselves. I was shocked to see I was
successful and I’d become conscious that I hadn’t tried to use all
of my strength before.

I took two steps inside and he was standing in his
living area with his shirt off. What I saw, I could’ve never
imagined. He was quickly pulling his shirt on over one arm and my
eyes were fixed on hers. Her gold eyes.

“Stop!” I yelled at him.

He stopped putting his shirt on and he sat back in
the chair as if he was exhausted. And I saw her glowing, gold eyes.
And I felt her sadness as she looked back at me. She was inside of
him. The acid rose into my throat and my head was swimming. I
closed my eyes for a second as fear welled up inside of me.

Her body was curled into his abdomen, making his
chest and stomach swell. I kept staring at her, looking into her
eyes and she turned her head away from me. I stood there horrified
as her body shifted within his. Her legs were curled up under his
skin and her head was embedded into his shoulder. I could see
through his skin as she shifted around. 

It fell out of my mouth before I could stop it,
“you’re a monster.”

He stood up quickly.

“Am I?” he said with disgust, “I have watched your
species kill each other for centuries. Over religion, over race,
over technology. I have witnessed genocide. So who’s the
monster?”

“Release her,” I said. I wouldn’t be blamed for my
ancestors. I wouldn’t be blamed for things I hadn’t done. I knew he
was right, but it was not my doing. I spent my life protecting
others, even those that didn’t deserve it. And yes, this was an
enigma of proportions that I never could’ve imagined but she was
still my Kye.

“I can’t. How do I put this? She can’t leave until
she’s charged.”

Charged
.

I felt a weakness in my knees as I stared at them. My
stomach turned inside of me. Was this their bond? This wasn’t
emotional; this was physical. Without knowing, I took a step back
and my mouth was agape. It was dreadful how she was stuck inside of
him. Despair ran over me and I knew she could’ve never told me
about this, never. In order for Kye to live, her core had to be
charged within him physically. Her maker; Danel. This was her
shame. This was the secret. She would be bound to him forever. This
is why they stopped making hybrids. Ben’s memories swam over me,
confirming all of my fears.

I tried to calm myself as I stared into his body. She
wouldn’t look at me, so I reached out emotionally to touch her in
the softest way possible. I was blocked. By her or him, I couldn’t
tell. My heart sank as I watched her inside of him. I wanted to rip
her out of him. I wanted to stop this, but I didn’t know how. I
just stood there. I tried to push out again, but this time with
just love. Danel seemed to not notice and she turned towards me
from within him and looked at me. I tried to push forward a thought
that said, “I love you. We can deal with this.”

But how would we deal with this? I was helpless and
tormented by the acute reality that she was truly trapped. I sank
into a chair across from Danel and looked into his eyes. They had
become foreign and distant, as if to say, you are not one of
us.

“You hate us, don’t you?” I said.

“You sure you want to use the word ‘us’ still?” he
said, smiling at my mutation, my unwanted change. I grew bitter at
his statement.

“I’m still half-human and so is she.”

I watched as her eyes closed inside of him. I could
feel her anguish; her heart was breaking, breaking for me.

“Actually, she’s more human than you, now.”

COLLIN HAD COME RUNNING up to the broken door,
panicked. I could feel him before he paused and looked in at the
bent metal. Danel already had his shirt on. It was oversized and,
although Kye was small compared to him, he still looked swollen in
the chest.

Collin looked in on us as we both stood up.

“A misunderstanding,” Danel said, waving his hand at
Collin to not ask about the door.

“It’s Alma,” Collin said. There was urgency in his
voice. Danel moved towards the door and I followed.

“We’ll deal with this later,” he said, turning back
to look at me for a second.

All of a sudden, I felt the others. There was
concern; there was pain. Because we were arguing, we hadn’t felt
what was going on at the end of the corridor. Alma was sick; she
was dying. Ben’s memories pushed up from inside of me and I could
feel my eyes starting to line with tears. I tried to push the
feelings aside. What was happening with Kye was bad enough. I
didn’t think I could handle anything else.

All three of us headed down the long hallway to a
medical lab. All the way in back was a private room and two others
were already there: Boyd and Aric. They didn’t acknowledge my
presence.

Her breathing was shallow and labored. I immediately
recognized her from Ben’s memories and my own. Ben’s thoughts
recalled long conversations holding her in his arms, bonding with
her emotionally. I tried again to push the feelings down, but the
pain was fierce; my heart was breaking. Ben’s essence swam over me
in full force and I felt like I would be knocked over. I couldn’t
hold him back. I moved into the room silently and grabbed her hand
into both of mine. Collin grabbed her other hand and caressed it. I
was almost bent over in pain and the tears came and I didn’t care
who saw. Boyd reached across and put a hand on my shoulder and I
could feel his pain also. I could feel Danel thinking of his wife,
who had passed many years ago.

Without realizing it, I found myself kissing the top
of Alma’s hand softly. I quickly stopped myself and tried to shove
Ben’s feelings away. I was only partly successful. Everyone seemed
to let their guard down. Until now, I was completely unaware of
everyone else crowded behind me. Alma was special, different. She
and Ben had seven children. It was unheard of. She was the last
mother on this ship and we were losing her.

Her breaths grew heavier and there was no glow from
her at all. Her iridescent veins faded and her skin became grey as
she released her last breath. A low hum sounded in the room from a
machine in the corner and Collin walked over to shut it off. She
was gone.

Danel moved quickly towards me and I didn’t care. I
just wanted to hold Alma, but then his arms were on my shoulders
pulling me away from her.

“Collin was chosen. You can’t touch her.” Danel was
now angered again. I don’t know how I’d forgotten, but I had. Her
essence would be stored in Collin until her new clone was ready. I
moved away from the table and everyone was silent. Boyd and Aric
were behind Collin, waiting. Would he be immobile like I was? Would
he be in pain?

It had begun. Her essence began to rise out of her
body. A luminous gas was slowly released from her and Collin held
tightly onto her hand as it crept towards him. It was many colors,
but mainly blues and reds, swimming in and out of each other,
reaching toward his hand. He closed his eyes the minute it touched
him. The gas moved faster now as it spread over his body and
penetrated his skin. He didn’t act as if he was in any pain. I
wanted to emotionally brush up against him, but it would’ve been
inappropriate.

After all the gases had merged with him, he let go of
her hand and started to drop to the floor. Boyd and Aric caught him
and lifted him up onto the gurney next to their mother’s body. He
was out, unconscious. Danel pulled at my shirt to suggest we should
leave the room to let the children have some privacy. We walked out
into the hall and I tried to compose myself. Danel seemed greatly
affected and wanted to distance himself from the others, like he
was disturbing them. Plus, he still had Kye inside of him. I didn’t
know if the others knew, but with how swollen he looked, I didn’t
think it was possible to hide.

Everything started to become clear. This was what Kye
was doing with Collin, trying to merge with him, so she would no
longer be tied to Danel. Kye was trying to charge her core with
Collin. But it didn’t work. Collin had been in extreme pain because
of it.

Alma’s lifeless grey skin lingered in my mind as I
followed Danel back to his quarters. He seemed annoyed by my
presence, but I wasn’t leaving until Kye withdrew herself from his
body.

When he sat back down in his oversized chair, he
looked exhausted. I said nothing. He actually looked physically ill
and I saw the grey in his skin also. There were several places that
I noticed had no glowing veins. There were dark grey patches in his
neck, on his face and both hands, just like Alma. I saw what I’d
never noticed before. Danel was dying. Why hadn’t I noticed this?
How could I be so blind?

The circular glowing veins in his arms and neck
appeared to be gone. Even his eyes were dimmed significantly. Ben’s
memories told me Alma was over ten thousand years old, so why was
Danel sick? He was half her age, half Ben’s age. I searched Ben’s
memories and finally unlocked that part that I couldn’t see. It was
the hybrids. That’s why Ben made it illegal to make them anymore.
Even Alma had one that had died many years back. The hybrids
literally sucked the life out of them. They would charge and it
would drain their maker.

“She’s killing you,” I said.

He looked at me without shock. His expression merely
said,
now, you get it
?

“But you knew this would happen and you made her
anyway.”

“I see you are accessing all of Ben’s memories now.”
He let out a deep breath and his eyes glazed over. I waited for him
to speak; the seconds crawled by, but eventually he did.

“We didn’t know it would deplete us so fast and at
first they just kept dying on us. It was devastating.”

There was sincerity in his voice that I’d never heard
before. He was resigned to the fact that all was known to me.

“It’s a long story, Lewis, but in short, my wife
wanted a daughter and she never got one. She was sick and passed
many years ago. I found it unbearable without her, so I made Kye.
And I still have no regrets, regardless of the outcome.”

His love for her radiated from him and his feelings
slid over me like he wasn’t blocking me anymore. I searched Ben’s
memories and found memories of Annalise, Danel’s wife. I found
images of her and Danel, many of them, over and over. They were
always together. I could hear her soft voice. I could see her gold
eyes, the same color as Kye’s. When Annalise died, it was chaos;
Ben was tormented by Danel’s pain. It affected everyone and Danel
wouldn’t let her go, almost insane with remorse. I didn’t need to
know anything else. I closed my eyes and tried to focus.

“So what happens when you die?” I said.

“The rest of the elders on this station are dead now.
So when I go, there is no one for her to merge with. She will be
unable to charge her core. Her core will be depleted within three
days.”