Scanning the quadrant for other threats I saw that the boat had docked. A team of men had spilled out and were running up the bank, all with guns raised. That would explain the bloody bullet. I quickly returned a hail of laser fire to slow some of them down, and tried to work out what the hell was going on. From the far corner near one of the bridges, Clio was running towards the boat team, her own arm outstretched.
As far as I could tell I had two threats, both heading in my direction from opposite corners. I was just about to pull Julius back down the path when I caught the tone of Paul’s voice. It was desperate, almost pleading, but not aggressive. I looked to see if the others had registered the unusual tone, whilst I shouted at Julius to get down.
Upon Paul’s shout I watched as Clio changed direction as she began to run towards him. Her long dark frame sprinted across the lawn, and she raised her second arm to steady her shooting arm and fired at Paul. Spinning backwards, he fell into Ramin’s arms.
Both Ramin and Paul were on the floor. Ramin was trying to support Paul, and holding him in one arm, he brought up his laser and seemed to be firing in Clio’s direction. For a split second I was paralysed, as my team appeared to be shooting at each other and I didn’t know which one to stop.
I aimed my gun at Ramin just as Clio fell forward, shots hitting her in the back from the team that had left the boat. In my ear I heard Ramin screaming at me to Step. We were two team members down and heavily outgunned. Julius shouted as a bullet tore through the sleeve of his jacket, and left me with no options. Hitting the Step code on my wrist brace, I grabbed Julius and disappeared.
#39 Neith – Alpha Earth
I fell onto the floor of the Step Chamber and vomited copiously. I hadn’t done that since I was a rookie, but then I had never carried a human through the Step with me. My ears were ringing and I felt lightheaded. The security lights were flashing and the sirens blaring. I was still holding Julius’ hand and I was relieved to note it was still attached to his whole body, although blood was pouring down his arm. I let go, and was even more relieved to find that we hadn’t melded into each other. Those essays about the pitfalls of stepping through with other life forms were fun to write up as students, but not so much when you actually do it. At least I would be spared from the “Look at me, kids” lecture circuit.
Some chimeras were operated on, and appendages were removed, mostly tails or ears. When the changes took place at a molecular level, they couldn’t be unspliced. Some died instantly as the original body couldn’t cope with the trauma, whilst some learnt to live with their new bodies.
I grabbed his wrist again and checked for a pulse before everyone started to run towards us. He was alive, but unconscious. Which was more than could be said for Paul. Ramin was sitting beside him, crying. He hadn’t thrown up, and I wondered if that was because Paul was already dead when Ramin had stepped through with him? Maybe he’d activated Paul’s emergency recall cord before he died? Where was Clio?
Someone shook my shoulder, and I saw Sam trying to speak to me. I couldn’t hear him over the noise in my ears and the sirens, but I knew I needed to tell him about Clio.
‘Clio fell. Someone shot her. Sam, I couldn’t get to her. You need to activate her emergency recall cord.’
He flinched as a medic jabbed something in my arm. The queasiness and ringing began to die down. A team of medics ran in and put Julius on a stretcher, then left quickly. Another team was attending to Ramin and had placed a simple white sheet over Paul’s face.
‘She fell, trying to save me. Paul was going to kill me.’
‘Neith. Don’t say anything more. You need to go to the infirmary. You and Ramin can report in due course.’
I tried again. ‘Sam. Hit the recall brace. Get Clio back.’
‘Neith. We did that the minute you all stepped through. Nothing happened, Neith. Clio’s dead.’
I looked at him in horror. ‘Sam, she can’t be. Try again. She was trying to save me. Try again!’
I couldn’t make sense of the situation. My head was pounding and the room kept tilting. It was impossible that Clio was dead. I knew that the Q Field couldn’t handle an inanimate object. If Clio’s brace had failed to detect any brain activity, it would simply disengage. I knew the science, but that wasn’t helping right now. Because right now, there was no way that my best friend was dead.
‘Sir. Please Sam, keep trying.’
I could see a commotion amongst the technicians standing around us as someone shouldered their way through.
‘What is the meaning of all this shouting? Curator, control yourself. Have you successfully retrieved the egg?’
The egg? I looked up at Chancellor Soliman Alvarez in disbelief. ‘Fuck the egg!’
‘Sir,’ said Sam, stepping between me and the chancellor, ‘we have just had a catastrophic incident. This isn’t the time or place.’
‘I’m in charge of this facility, or have you forgotten?’ Alvarez loomed into my view again. ‘Have you or have you not got the egg? Have you completely ballsed up your mission?’
Too distressed to argue any more, I tapped the security cuff on my wrist, and technicians stepped forward, tentatively waiting for permission to release it.
‘Good,’ he boomed, ‘at least you haven’t screwed
