Harry's Sacrifice (7 page)

Mara sat down, placing her hands on the desk. “You’ve planned this well. It seems the Mara influence isn’t as weak as you believe. According to historical records, Hara was usually one to rush in where fools fear to tread. Instead, you have presented a logical argument with data to support your claims.”

Harry perched on the arm of the visitor’s chair with the desk between himself and his mother. She still made no move to retrieve the crystal that he well knew she kept on her person at all times. He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, flashing her a smile he seldom let her see.

“Of my Alvian genetics, there’s still eleven percent of you in me, Mother. Perhaps the steadying Mara traits temper some of my more rash Hara tendencies. Or perhaps—” he stood again and walked right up to the desk and leaned over her, “—my human side is what makes it all work. You’ve been so busy studying the Alvian part of me, you’ve neglected to credit the influence of the human part. You’ve neglected my psychic abilities almost completely, and the way the human DNA has filled in the weaknesses inherent in the Alvian strains. There is a reason only Breeds survived the cataclysm. By rights, no domesticated creature should have been able to survive the crystal seeding of this planet in any quantity, much less flourished as the humans have since the planet stabilized. It’s my belief the blending of Alvian and human genetics makes both races stronger.”

“I have looked into these claims early on in my studies but found them unsubstantiated.”

“What of the test subjects who’ve taken the gene-altering substance you cooked up? What of the Alvians now blessed with emotion? Haven’t their successes made you curious?”

“That study is inconclusive.”

“Oh, I think it’s more that you refuse to see the truth right before your eyes. The data is there. It’s irrefutable, if you know how to interpret it.” He considered her as he walked around the desk, stalking her. “Or perhaps you are unable to comprehend the meaning of your observations. Perhaps it takes emotion to truly understand what you’re looking at here, Mother. Tell me, did you ever think to try the gene-altering therapy yourself? I believe you’d learn more than you ever dared imagine.”

“It is unwise for the researcher to also be the experimental subject. There is the risk that any observations would not be objective.”

“But maybe objectivity is the problem. Maybe you need to be a little more subjective. A little more personally involved. How can you accurately record the impact of renewed emotion when you do not understand emotion at all yourself?”

“A good point I have wrestled with, Hara.” She nodded in acknowledgment of his logic.

He stood before her. “I know.”

Mara’s eyes widened as he knelt before her. “How do you know? Have you been accessing my personal logs? There’s no way—”

“Relax, Mother. I’m psychic, remember? This is one of the things I have foreseen most strongly. You must become one with your experiment before you will truly understand the impact of emotion on the Alvian people and the impact your people—and your experiments—have had on humanity. I wait for the day you can return the love I have for you as my mother.” He silenced her with one finger across her lips when she would have objected. “Yes, I do love you, Mother, though you’ve never given me much reason to do so. Still, it’s some kind of biological imperative that cannot be denied. I love you and I pity you at the same time, because you just don’t know what you’re missing without feeling the things I feel. You will never understand the things you seek to analyze until you embrace the emotions your predecessors denied your race.” Harry sat back, lowering his hand.

“You know this for a fact? You’ve foreseen it?” Her voice was barely a whisper.

Harry nodded. “As surely as any vision I’ve ever received, and it only backs up what Uncle Caleb has been seeing for many years. The salvation of the Alvian race rests with humanity, but if you are too blind to see it, both races will fail utterly and all civilization on this planet will die.”

“You’re certain?”

“Yes.” Harry looped one finger under the collar of her tunic, under her ear, seeking the chain he knew lay just beneath. “Which is why I need this.”

Inch by inch, the silver chain slipped out from under the high collar to finally reveal a glittering, inch-long crystal. It was pointed on both ends, bowing out in the center with fine cuts along its faceted face. Set in precious white metal that gleamed though the piece was centuries old, the glimmering crystal held a brightness that was nearly blinding and altogether mesmerizing.

Refracted light bounced over the walls of the room, brightening it with a happy light. The crystal Hummed as Harry’s fingers brushed it, sounding a delightful, chiming tone. Harry smiled, and he could see even Mara was enchanted by the sound. The crystal had never responded to her that way. Only to him—even as a baby.

“The crystal recognizes me, Mother. It is mine to command. Mine to control. Mine to partner with as we move forward on this new planet. My home planet. Only I can bridge the gap between Alvia and Earth. Even you must realize this.”

Mara unclipped the chain and allowed the pendant to fall into his hands as she stood and put space between them. “I fear it.”

“Fear?” Harry pocketed the crystal and considered his mother. “I know you don’t truly comprehend the concept. You would not have conducted yourself the way you have with my O’Hara relatives and the rest of humanity if you really understood fear. You have no clue what you’ve done to them—or to the many you’ve imprisoned in the pens beneath the city.”

“Why do you say such things to me now? You’ve never said anything before in all these years.”

“The time wasn’t right.” He shrugged. “Now it is. Now is your moment of decision. Take the gene therapy and unlock the mysteries that have plagued you these many years. Don’t take it and continue in ignorance. I know Maras are innately curious. Let that curiosity guide you now. It’s the right thing to do—for yourself, for science, for the Alvian race, for humanity and for the future the two races can share here on this planet.”

Harry stared hard at her for a long moment before heading to the door. He had what he wanted and he’d laid the groundwork for what was to come. The next move was hers.

Chapter Four

“Your presence is required in Council Chambers, Hara.” The voice came to Harry as he swept from his mother’s office. He was in such a state inwardly that he’d hardly noticed the set of soldiers waiting in the outer chamber.

Apparently, he was being summoned to meet with the Council. Harry had to work hard to tamp down the emotions running through him at the moment. The confrontation with his mother had been a long time coming and there was always a certain amount of frustration and even sadness when dealing with her. He loved her. She had given him life, after all. And she couldn’t understand him at all. For that reason he also pitied her.

Manipulating her had become something he had to do in order to keep his human family as happy and safe as possible under the circumstances. He didn’t like it, but he had to do it. Hopefully, the actions he’d just taken would begin the process that would lead to more freedom for his human family—for all humans on the planet—and a deeper understanding to the Alvian race. They needed to wake up, and if Caleb’s visions were about to come to fruition, it wouldn’t be long now.

“Hara?” one of the guards prompted him.

Harry gathered his wits and faced the two soldiers who stood waiting for him.

“Certainly. Shall we go?” He kept his tone as emotionless as possible, though these two would probably not notice anything less than a full break with decorum.

The surprise summons from the Council was something not completely unheard of, but it was still odd. Harry tried to imagine what they might be up to and drew a blank. He’d been more concerned about how to get the crystal from his mother over the past few days than with paying attention to Council intrigues. They could want just about anything.

The soldiers escorted him to the Chamber door and sent the signal inside to indicate Harry was waiting. Almost immediately, the great door slid open. The soldiers remained outside as Harry stepped in. The door slid shut behind him, closing and locking with an ominous click.

Closed session. Only the Councilors and one member of each of their staff were present. Bare bones. Undoubtedly top secret. Curiouser and curiouser.

Silence met his entrance. All eyes turned to him. Harry was used to being ignored until they were ready for him whenever he’d been summoned in the past. This time, something was very different.

“I am here, as requested,” Harry stated when the silence stretched. He bowed his head politely but did not lower his eyes. He would never do so to this Council. Not while humans were still held captive. It was a matter of principle he had decided on when he was just a boy, and he would see it through.

“A military archaeological mission recently discovered something in the far north. We believe it to be the remains of your progenitor, Hara. We require you to join the expedition, for the inscription on the portal states that only the true heir of Hara may open it.” Councilor Orin spoke for the entire Council in the bland tone only an Alvian could achieve.

Here he was discussing the most significant find since colonizing this planet, and he couldn’t even work up a grin. Harry felt truly sorry for his Alvian Brethren. They really didn’t know what they were missing.

Having had some time to find a new place once their scientists had realized their sun was in the final stages of its useful life, the Alvians had sent Hara, their greatest explorer, to survey a number of planets. He’d sent back information about a few likely candidates before losing touch with the mother planet for good.

The home planet had been evacuated years later, just before their star went supernova, dispersing their population in massive colony ships—each sent in a different direction. The one that had finally found Earth, centuries later due to the difficulties of crossing interstellar space, had sent an unmanned device ahead. That deadly device had changed the earth in ways humans could never have prepared for or fought against. Circling the globe with orbital pods, the device had seeded the earth with shards of Alvia Prime’s home crystal, retuning the earth’s crystal deposits with devastating effect. Tsunamis, earthquakes, even volcanic eruptions had plagued the planet for years and most humans had perished.

Even when they’d found out about the human population, the Alvians on the colony ship had already been so devoid of emotion they had merely shrugged it off as a slight miscalculation. They didn’t care. They
couldn’t
care. It had simply been bred out of them.

All that would change now. Harry’s gift of foresight had shown him images of the future that were troubled and inconclusive. He had compared notes with his uncle Caleb, who had even stronger clairvoyance than Harry. Caleb believed the things they had seen offered hope for both races sharing this small planet. After hearing the Council’s news, the images began to make even more sense. Caleb had been seeing frozen people for weeks.

“May I ask if the site is buried in ice and snow?”

A sharp look was as close as Orin could come to showing surprise. “The portal is at the bottom of a crevasse, according to our information. How did you know?”

“The Oracle Caleb O’Hara has been seeing people frozen in ice for weeks now.”

Harry didn’t see anything wrong in reporting something that had been recorded in one or two of his mother’s scientific reports. She was studying Uncle Caleb, and he was required to report the content of his visions, though he didn’t tell her everything. Not by a long shot.

Orin and a few other Councilors shuffled data sheets on their table. Harry was glad of the momentary distraction as a compulsion overtook him. A feeling of
knowing
. The next best thing to a full-fledged vision. He looked to Councilor Markus’s seat and the pretty young girl sitting behind him. Roshin 72. The girl he’d called Ro when she’d fumbled her papers in the hallway.

He saw her and a vision of a rose. A sweet, brightly blooming, flaming-red rose. Roshin held the flower and she was smiling, truly smiling. Her eyes were filled with happy tears as she gazed at him and sniffed the delicate blossom in her hands.

Harry blinked, but the double vision—that of the real world and the imagery of the vision—persisted. She was special. That’s when he knew he had to keep her near him. His instinct was to protect her at all costs. No matter if he had to drag her to the North Pole and back. He had to keep her with him. She was that important.

“Yes, I see the notation here in Mara 12’s last report. The subject reports seeing people in ice along with his nephew, Hara, and a young Alvian female.”

Harry was surprised by that last bit. Caleb hadn’t mentioned the girl to him, but Harry saw his opening and took it.

“Councilors, if I may,” he demanded their attention politely. “My uncle and I have discussed his recent visions at length. He described the Alvian female to me in depth and I now believe he was seeing Councilor Markus’s assistant. Seeing her face, I recognize the particular characteristics he described.”

The entire Council turned to look at the young assistant. She didn’t squirm under their scrutiny. She couldn’t feel embarrassment or nervousness. Not the way people with emotions could. But her eyes met his with speculation and a hint of accusation. She suspected him of making the whole thing up—which wasn’t far from the truth. Perhaps she had more insight than the average Alvian.

“I was going to suggest we send a clerk along on the mission to record the proceedings. It is my understanding that the location coincides with some kind of electromagnetic anomaly that will not allow the use of standard recording devices or other technologies. Someone should be along to take notes since this may be an historic occasion.” Councilor Markus was magnanimous in his offer.

Harry suspected he wanted to somehow take credit for this discovery. It would probably be a good political move on his part if the mission turned out well and some evidence of their lost exploration party could be found and returned to the Alvian people. It would lend legitimacy to the Alvian colonization of Earth.