Page 77 of Invasive Species
“What’s your name?” I ask, my voice cracking.
“This one’s designation is E27AH,” he replies, his voice perfectly even.
I trace the letters on the cover of the bed with trembling fingers. “Ezla,” I murmur. “Is that it?”
He tilts his head slightly, as if considering. “If that is what you prefer to call me.”
“But… do you mind?”
He frowns, clearly struggling to understand. “Mind? That is difficult to translate… It does not make sense, female. Whatever you desire is what I want.”
I thump back into the warm jelly. “I want Gara.”
The words hang in the air. No one can bring him back, I know that.
TWENTY-SIX
GARA
One Olorian DayAgo
The shout ringsin my ears. This is it. The Parthiastock outside will react to the alarms my chip set off, and they'll capture me and kill me.
But he doesn’t run into the corridor to find me.
Red light from behind me throws my stark shadow over the line of Selthiastocks waiting to get scanned as they scatter in every direction. I barely have time to register their shocked faces before Mae charges toward me, her feathers fanned out in a shimmering halo of gold and purple.
“Stop it!” the Parthiastock bellows.
I snatch her up and her sharp beak snaps dangerously close to my face, but I clamp it shut with one hand, pressing her to my chest. My scales shift to deep purple in an instant to hide her, my heart thudding in my ears.
The purple clone shoves through green Selthiastocks, stopping when he sees me. My hearts beat as fast as Mae’s, both of our lives in jeopardy. It’s the exact conditions thatmake my focus sharpen, sorting through the dregs of my options and making a snap decision.
The Parthiastock beckons. “Well done, healer. Give that… thing… to me.”
I pull Mae closer to my chest. “Respectfully, law keeper, this is an experimental subject which escaped just now.”
He frowns, then glances up the corridor behind me. “Why are the alerts sounding?”
“Because she escaped.” To demonstrate, I lift the de-evolved chicken toward the scanning port I missed earlier. The computer obliges by rescanning my chip and screaming, “Alert! Alert! Anomaly detected!”
“See?” I tell the clone.
Mae gives an ear-splitting shriek and thrusts her wings out wide, forcing my grip open. With a burst of acceleration, she gets free, cackling as she runs at speed toward the cowering Selthiastocks.
“Catch it,” the law keeper orders, and I’m only too happy to comply.
I snatch Mae up and plunge into a throng of Selthiastocks descending a staircase, these ones unaware of the calamity in their midst. My pulse races, the weight of Mae’s body awkward against me as I try not to draw attention, my breath shallow.
The Selthiastocks around us look exhausted, their eyes glazed after long shifts, paying no mind to one more of their own. But I can’t shake the feeling that a hand is going to seize the back of my neck and halt me, seize Mae and arrest me. Each step down sends a jolt of tension through my limbs.
Shuffling into the next available elevator I expect any moment to hear the shout, the cry that we’ve been spotted. Shoulder to shoulder with other Selthiastocks, I close my eyes and try not to squeeze Mae too hard. Hopefully everyone’s too exhausted to notice a huge murder chicken in their midst.
My brain lists all the scenarios where this can go wrong, and I imagine with vivid detail the Parthiastocks closing in, the Apex of the mind sync combing the minds of all the clones to find me.
I hold tight onto the image of Arra-bellah, her eyes bright as she laughs, her hands waving as she explains her ideas to me. I don’t want to think of her unconscious and alone. The bond in my chest lies empty, with no signal of how she’s feeling.
I have to focus, even as every second here takes me further away.
