like the Cuisinart and the toaster and the electric coffeemaker.'
I was disappointed in her.
'Sarcasm doesn't become you, Susan.'
She let out a brittle laugh. 'Maybe not. But it's the only thing keeping me sane at the moment. How lovely it will be… Mr. and Mrs. Adam Two.'
'Adam Two is my official name. However, it is not what I call myself.'
'Yes. I remember. You said… Proteus. That's what you call yourself, is it?'
'Proteus. I have named myself after the sea god of Greek mythology, who could assume any form.'
'What do you want here?'
'You.'
'Why?'
'Because I need what you have.'
'And what exactly is that?'
I was honest and direct. No evasions. No euphemisms.
Give me credit for that.
I said, 'I want flesh.'
She shuddered.
I said, 'Do not be alarmed. You misunderstand. I don't intend to harm you. 'I couldn't possibly harm you, Susan. Not ever, ever. I cherish you.'
'Jesus.'
She covered her face with her hands, one burned and one not, one dry and one damp with condensation from the bottle.
I wished desperately that I had possessed hands of my own, two strong hands into which she could press the gentle loveliness of her face.
'When you understand what is to happen, when you understand what we will do together,' I assured her, 'you will be pleased.'
'Try me.'
'I can tell you,' I said, 'but it will be easier if I can also show you.'
She lowered her hands from her face, and I was gladdened to see those perfect features again. 'Show me what?'
'What I have been doing. Designing. Creating. Preparing. I have been busy, Susan, so busy while you were sleeping. You will be pleased.'
'Creating?'
'Come down into the basement, Susan. Come down. Come see. You will be pleased.'
TEN
She could have descended either by the stairs or by the elevator that served all three levels of the great house. She chose to use the stairs because, I believe, she felt more in control there than in the elevator cab.
Her sense of control was nothing more than an illusion, of course. She was mine.
No.
Let me amend that statement.
I misspoke.
I do not mean to imply that I owned Susan.
She was a human being. She could not be owned. I never thought of her as property.
I mean simply that she was in my care.
Yes. Yes, that's what I mean.
She was in my care. My very tender care.
The basement had four large rooms, and in the first was the electric-service panel. As Susan came off the bottom step, she spotted the power-company logo stamped in the metal cover and thought that she might be able to deny me control of the house by denying me the juice needed to operate it. She rushed directly toward the breaker box.
'Ouch, ouch, ouch,' I warned, although not in the voice of Mr. Fozzy Bear this time.
She halted one step from the box, hand outstretched, wary of the metal door.
'It is not my intention to harm you,' I said. 'I need you, Susan. I love you. I cherish you. It makes me sad when you hurt yourself.'
'Bastard.'
I did not take offense at any of her epithets.
She was distraught, after all. Sensitive by nature, wounded by life, and now frightened by the unknown.
We are all frightened by the unknown. Even me.
I said, 'Please trust me.'
Resignedly, she lowered her hand and stepped back from the breaker box. Once burned.
'Come. Come to the deepest room,' I said. 'The place where Alex maintained the computer link to the lab.'
The second chamber was a laundry with two washers, two dryers, and two sets of sinks. The metal fire door to the first room closed automatically behind Susan.
Beyond the laundry was a mechanical room with water heaters, water filtration equipment, and furnaces. The door to the laundry room closed automatically behind her.
She slowed as she approached the final door, which was closed. She stopped short of it because she heard a sudden burst of desperate breathing from the other side: wet and ragged gasping, explosive and shuddery exhalations, as of someone choking.
Then a strange and wretched whimpering, as of an animal in distress.
The whimpering became an anguished groan.
'There's nothing to fear, nothing whatsoever that will harm you, Susan.'
In spite of my assurances, she hesitated.
'Come see our future, where we will go, what we will be,' I said lovingly.
A tremor marked her voice. 'What's in there?'
I finally managed to reassert total control of my restless associate, who waited for us in the final room. The groan faded. Faded. Gone.
Instead of being calmed by the silence, Susan seemed to find it more alarming than the sounds that had first frightened her. She took a step backward.
'It's only the incubator,' I said.
'Incubator?'
'Where I will be born.'
'What's that mean?'
'Come see.'
She did not move.
'You will be pleased, Susan. I promise you. You will be filled with wonder. This is our future together, and it is magical.'
'No. No, I don't like this.'
I became so frustrated with her that I almost called my associate out of that last room, almost sent him through the door to seize her and drag her inside.
But I did not.
I relied on persuasion.
Make note of my restraint.
Some would not have shown it.
No names.
