Catalyst (21 page)

We leave the platform, and the main station opens up. It looks like a huge beehive from the inside—all silver beams and glass windows, with different magtrain platforms entering like bicycle spokes all over the hive. Another purple-cloaked guard leads us outside, where a luxurious, candy-apple-red magpod awaits.

Within minutes we’re at our destination. Inside a black egg building, we’re led to a tiny room. No fewer than five guards are stationed outside the door. Their neural guns are prominently held at chest level as we walk in. As soon as the doors close, Julian peels off his cloak.

“Ah, that is much better. You’re all welcome to disrobe,” he says. We all take off our cloaks, except for Xiulan, who tightens the fabric around herself. She’s kept her skin color close to normal since we got off the magtrain. “Xiulan, you can wait until the senators are here. It will certainly be far more dramatic to unveil then, won’t it?”

Xiulan presses her lips together. Fury washes over her face and she squeezes her hands together so tightly that her thumbs send rings of violet across her flesh.

Barbaric. Julian’s basically brought her to be eye-candy for them. Well, maybe it won’t be that bad. Maybe—

The doors swish open. Four men cloaked in bright red enter. Two look well over sixty, with gray hair, but the other two are much younger. Middle-aged, with dark brown hair coiffed in that flawless style that senators always have. They must all own the same brand of grooming bot. They immediately start shaking hands with Julian, their eyes glancing over to our group. When they see Caliga standing apart from the others in her molten gold gown, their mouths open like fish.

“Gentlemen. May I introduce Zelia Benten. Cyrad William. Micah Kw. Liu Xiulan.”

One by one, we take turns shaking their hands. Each one seems apprehensive to be close to us, especially Xiulan. Her face is flashing bright pinks and purples.

“And Caliga Jakobsen. But with our lovely Caliga, you may look but not touch.”

“Indeed!” the oldest senator notes. The other three gawk unabashedly. “Well, we have a lot to discuss, don’t we? Let’s all have a seat.”

One by one, Julian asks us to explain our traits. Micah is asked to do a brief demonstration of his electrical trait. They laugh good-naturedly when he surprises them with a buzzing tingle on the hand.

“Imagine having a concealed weapon at all times. Micah has already installed his own version into our bracelets,” Julian boasts.

“Excellent!” Two of the men clap, but two don’t. The least excited one leans forward.

“What can stop him?”

“I’m not invincible,” Micah explains. “It works poorly in high humidity climates. And it works on me as well. There’s always a way to take us down.” He smiles charmingly, but the senators don’t seem to notice the deadened look in his eyes. When they turn their attention to Cy, Micah holds his breath and looks for affirmation that he didn’t screw anything up. Julian gives him a little nod, and he exhales silently with relief. The senators are remarking on Cy’s already well-known healing serums.

“How about a demonstration?” Julian offers brightly.

“No!” The word blurts out of my mouth before I can stop myself. Cy shakes his head at me and turns to the men.

“It would be my pleasure.” There’s a buffet with food and drinks in the corner. Cy picks up a carving knife next to a small roast beef and brings it over. He rolls up a sleeve and hands the knife to one of the older senators. “You may do the cut, to see that there are no magic tricks.”

I’m puzzled by how okay Cy is with all of this. The senator grips the knife, tests the edge for sharpness with his thumb, then draws it across Cy’s muscled forearm.

At first it seems like he didn’t cut anything. Seconds later, a crimson line appears. I fight the urge to rush to his side and mop up the blood. Cy’s squeezing his wrist, but his face is strangely Zen. In fact, he’s calmer and more focused than I’ve seen in a while. Cy wipes the blood off with a wet napkin and shows the already healing wound to the senators.

“Excellent. Now tell us about this young lady in the gold.”

“Caliga? Brand-new to Avida. She produces an anesthetic effect several feet around her. When I said look but do not touch, I meant it. But it is possible to be immune to her effects.”

“Is that so?”

Julian stands and reaches for my hand. “Zelia, dear. Show them.”

I stand up and take a few mincing steps in my heels. I sit next to Caliga. Her hand is right next to mine. She’s trembling.

One by one, the senators feel her bubble of numbness with cautiously extended hands, before stepping back. “Fascinating,” one says. “So it would be possible for a man to have a wife whom no one could touch but him. A key to his own property!”

Caliga bares her teeth at this, and I inconspicuously grab her hand to calm her down. Julian is laughing with the men. There are hands clapping his back, congratulating him on his newest acquisition, when Caliga’s hand squeezes mine back.

“No, no,” she mutters. “He can’t. I’ll never let him touch me.”

I don’t know what to say. He’s already started working on a vaccine. It’s only a matter of time before Caliga’s cage—or defense, depending on how you see it—is open to him.

“And Xiulan. Our lovely peacock. Limitless applications for espionage, warfare . . . entertainment. I believe a different group of senators saw her charms at our last visit, but she was asked to return, just for you. Show them, Xiulan.”

Xiulan is still tightly wrapped within her cloak. She doesn’t budge, only tightens her crossed arms. Julian goes pink in the face with slow-rising rage.

“Xiulan. Our senators are waiting for their demonstration.”

“I will not,” Xiulan says with a quiet, firm tone. She might as well have screamed it, because it has the same effect. Her face is pulsating in deep pinks and oranges as Julian stands and towers over her, slowly lifting his hand. I let go of Caliga’s hand to squeeze mine into a fist. In my other palm, Ana’s glass unicorn is still hidden, cradled carefully.

Exquisite and unique. So breakable.

So worth saving.

I stand up abruptly. “Color and flashing lights. Is that what this is all about?” Every head swivels away from Xiulan to stare at me. “She’s just smoke and mirrors. Let’s be honest. It’s not what you’re really interested in, or what you came here to discuss.” I step forward, praying that no one notices the slight warble in my voice.

“Maybe I ought to introduce myself again.” I put my hands on my hips. “I’m Zelia Benten. And I can make you immortal.”

CHAPTER 19

T
HE ROOM IS SILENT.
E
VEN
J
ULIAN,
which means I’ve either done something very good or very stupid.

“Really?” The oldest senator pivots in his seat and focuses on me with his green, slightly metallic eyes. Holo implanted. “Last I heard, your DNA killed Senator Milford. Don’t see how that amounts to anything but trouble.”

“Someone very eager to make a statement used an old prototype,” I explain in my best bored voice. “That formula was slated for more aggressive purposes.”

Julian finally gathers himself and comes to stand by my side. “Zelia is living proof of the longevity gene at work.”

One of the younger senators points at me. “Are you saying that you could truly bottle your trait? Keep a person alive far beyond our life expectancy?”

The four men watch me carefully. They’re trying to stay professional, unemotional. But there’s a shiny, dark thing behind their eyes. Greed. And fear of death. That’s when I realize the brilliance of Julian’s words.

Greed, sympathy, and fear . . . use them . . . like weapons.

Julian walks around the senators, like a cat circling its prey. Oh, he’s in his element, loving this. He puts his hands on two senators’ shoulders and leans between their heads. One of Endall’s beautiful watches gleams on this wrist. He sees me looking at the timepiece and winks at me. “Let me ask you, gentlemen. What’s the one thing no one ever has enough of?”

The senators look inwardly as their focus blurs. I can imagine what their thoughts are. Money. Sex. Power. I sit down in front of them and cross my legs. Ready to deliver the final blow to make or break our meeting.

“Youth. Stamina. Beauty.” I tick them off on my fingertips, then thread my hands together and smile. “Those are nice things. Small things. We’re offering what you truly can never buy—that which is utterly priceless.” I lean closer. “Time.”

The senators sit back and consider this. Julian’s eyes twinkle at me with approval. Micah and Cy watch us carefully and Xiulan’s face has blended in with the couch beneath her. But there’s a tiny camouflaged smile of relief on her face.

“What good is immortality if you can still be killed from an injury?” the younger senator asks.

At this, Cy stands up and plants himself by my side. “That’s where I come in. You’ve already seen my regenerative serums.”

The youngest senator claps his hands together. “Long life, and an invincible body! What I wouldn’t do to see a child born of you two. It’d be a god, wouldn’t it?”

Cy and I look at each other, startled. Kids? Us? Not that it’s possible, since neither of us can procreate. But I never considered it. You’d think I’d be excited about the thought, but instead, it sends a chill into my heart. Humans weren’t meant to be gods. We’re too greedy, too afraid, and too emotional. Maybe we weren’t meant to play god with genes either, but it’s far too late for those kinds of regrets.

The senators are practically salivating at the thought. They start talking among themselves. I hear one of them say, “We could change history with this. At the right price on the black market, the profit could be beyond anything we’ve considered.”

“Indeed, gentlemen,” Julian replies. “The black market has posed quite a demand already.”

Everyone in the room relaxes. One of the senators chats with Cy and Micah, while another pats Xiulan on her covered shoulder and she shows him her hand camouflage trick on a bowl of fruit. He smiles, then sits a safe distance away from where I’m sitting next to Caliga.

“So, young lady. Do you really think you can make this elixir of life?”

“I do,” I say with a confidence that I don’t actually have. His eyes light up and I can almost see the dollar signs in them. “Senator. We owe you our gratitude for protecting us.”

For the rest of the hour, we mill around as Julian begins to outline a plan for exporting our goods and creating new products. I eavesdrop on the latter subject. Julian talks about surreptitiously welcoming undiscovered traited kids to Inky and funneling them to Avida.

The eldest senator sips his martini slowly. “It would be so nice if we could expand the market. I haven’t seen a new product since that boy’s serums came out,” he says, pointing his olive-speared toothpick at Cy.

The brown-haired politician next to him shakes his head. “Too bad they only have one trait. Can’t you just make some more? We are in Inky, after all. Shame if no more children could be produced. If you need pro-conception hormone treatments, we can certainly supply them by the bucketload.”

“Ah. That’s a work in progress.” Julian’s got a sheen of sweat on his forehead. Without an ability to unlock Dad’s suicide seed terminator technology, there can be no more babies. “But we appreciate the offer.”

“Well, can’t you just . . . make mutations?” The youngest senator looks around the room and motions to me. “You. Come here.” I walk over in my heels, which are now rubbing two spectacular blisters on my heels. It’s an effort to not grimace. “Can you make a mutation?”

I fudge my answer. “It’s complicated. And boring science-talk, to be honest,” I say, smiling. I pray he’ll drop the subject.

“Surely you could make it happen. There’s a variety of dangerous chemicals out there.” He snaps his fingers at Cy, who’s crossing the room. “You! Name me some chemicals.”

“Excuse me?”

“Chemicals! Ones that cause mutations.”

Cy looks taken aback. “Uh, phosgene, I suppose. Ethylene oxide?” He shrugs his shoulders and walks by, pretending to be interested in a horrible abstract painting of an egg, of all things. Cy’s losing his patience for these guys, as am I.

“There you go!” the senator says, ordering another martini from the bartending bot in the corner. “Can’t you just see if they work?”

“On regular people?” I say, incredulous. “That would be like using a shovel to do surgery.” I think I’m being clever, when I see Julian frowning deeply at me. Uh-oh. My playfulness strayed into disrespectful territory. I try to backtrack and apologize, but the senator gets up to leave with the others.

“Well, that’s our cue. We’ll leave the lab tinkering to you, Julian. We expect a report in two weeks.”

We put our cloaks on to leave. When we enter the magtrain, Julian has Cy stay in our compartment. Julian is positively glowing when he brings us sapphire drinks in tiny glasses.

“A toast. To our jewel, Zelia. I had no idea you had it in you. Your father really hid your talents well, didn’t he?” He grins broadly. When Julian raises his glass, Cy and I don’t. He’s halfway through his drink when he sees we haven’t taken a single sip. “Don’t you want to celebrate?”