Page 89 of Mutant Mine

“And you needed to retrieve Selene.”

Weaver nods. “The Starbound is a beauty, but she can’t achieve the same speeds as the Hades. By the time we had Selene safely back on board, and had managed to locate you and catch up… I’m sorry that you had to wait for us. Those weeks can’t have been easy.”

If my brothers had boarded the Hades just as the force fields failed, then they would have had to wade through the very worst of it: the slaughter of the crew, and the wild hunt of the freed men. They are strong, and would have survived, but it would have been bloody.

And I never would have had the time I was given with Rory.

“Do not be sorry for that,” I tell Weaver. “It was for the best. Truly.”

At that moment, the doors to the lounge slide open. In walks Spektor, the fifth of my escaped brothers, and the only one who did not come down to the Hades. He is immediately distinctive, thanks to his pure white hair. It was drained of all color by the trauma of the laboratory.

I get to my feet, relieved to see another of them whole and well — then I freeze.

Someone else is tottering in through the open doors.

It is… a child. A small boy, with short, dark curls, framing two incipient horns. His round face is swirled and striped with pale blue.

Spektor walks closely behind the child, his hands hovering in mid-air as if ready to catch the boy should he fall.

“Daddy!” exclaims the child, and toddles even faster — straight into Weaver’s waiting arms.

Weaver scoops the boy up, holds him aloft, and spins him in the air. They are both laughing.

“Hey, little buddy!” Weaver says. He brings the boy down and tucks him against his chest. “How have you been withoutus? Did you have fun with Spektor?”

“We played unicorns.”

“Did you?” Weaver turns to Spektor with a raised eyebrow.

“Damn right,” Spektor says, ruffling the boy’s hair.

The child has noticed me now. He goes quiet, and peeks at me over Weaver’s shoulder.

I peer back, drinking in the sight of him. My mouth is dry. I did not know… His very existence is…

“Yours?” I ask creakily. “With Selene?”

Weaver nods. He must know what I’m thinking — that we never knew whether this was evenpossiblefor us, after what was done to our bodies.

The boy is a wonder.

“Beautiful, isn’t he?” asks Spektor lightly, dragging me out of my reverie. Then he pulls me into a tight hug. “Roth. Good to see you. I guess Weaver already told you how grateful we are?”

I grunt.

“Well, I’m going to embarrass you by saying it again. Thank you, Roth.”

“You are welcome.” My eyes are drawn back to the child. “What is his name?”

“You tell him, kid. What’s your name?”

“Lucas,” says the boy, regarding me shyly. “Who’re you?”

“My name is Roth.”

“Woth,” he says. It is close enough.

Spektor and I sit back down on a couch, while Weaver heads into the kitchen area to find Lucas something to eat.

---