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Of course, we hadn’t. Hell, we were still coming to terms with what had happened. Right now, we were reeling, and we weren’teven considering long-term plans. The present was all that concerned us. Dear Creator, we hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“Well, I was thinking. The land we’ve given you, I am prepared to extend that. Perhaps you can expand your plans for the Villa, and all the changed ones who’ve nowhere to live could reside there.”

“But we can’t stand the sunlight.”

“Jacques, you don’t have to. We’ll excavate deep into the ground. You were building on bedrock, which would provide protection for everyone. Build rooms underneath that’ll keep sunlight far away. The villa itself… make into a series of workrooms. Jaq, I’ll finish your training. You only had a little way to go, anyway.

“Current understanding is that twenty-four patients remain. Shared accommodation isn’t for everyone, which is perfectly reasonable. However, some may face cold welcomes from their families and will require a place to stay. Honestly, I don’t mind having everyone here on my land, and indeed, it would be a great honour.”

Father drew a deep breath. “Jacques, Inka, I have failed you once by letting you do this Experiment. Never again. This shall always be a safe harbour for you. Everyone affected has a place under my protection for as long as I’m alive. By making the land yours, everyone will have somewhere to call home after I’ve gone.”

“Don’t speak like that!” I cried, distressed that Father was even considering this. “How did you fail us?”

“Son, I allowed you to participate. Jacques, I guessed what you two were planning, and I could’ve stopped you. Tragically, I did not. Now I pay the price, but so do you.”

“Father—” Inka began, but he cut her off with a wave of his hand.

“Consider my proposal. I’ll not rescind it.”

“Of course, we’ll be honoured to live here. We’ll build a home for everybody,” I said firmly.

If the others didn’t want to, fair enough. Some of them would, D’vid for one. The others would join us when their families died out. There would be a haven awaiting everyone affected. That was what mattered. I would ensure that everyone knew they had my father to thank for this.

“We would like you near so we can make sure that nothing ever hurts you again,” Mother said softly, wringing her hands.

“Mother, we will never leave you. Even if you demand we do, we’ll be here always,” I replied, kneeling at her feet and taking her hands.

“Mother, you do us a great honour by offering this. You are only responsible for Inka and I. This shows how big your heart is, how great your capacity for love is. A few will definitely join us.”

“Currently there’s only us, but there could be more in the future. Just knowing that there is somewhere they’ll be welcome will gladden their hearts,” Inka stated, standing.

“And I’ll finish my training, Father, and do you proud,” I declared.

“Son, you make me proud already,” Father replied, rising to take me by the shoulder. “You’ll always be my child. Nothing will ever change that.”

I swelled with confidence and pride.

My family had not rejected me. Although I hadn’t expected them to, there’d been doubt. I knew now just how much Father loved me. Sadly, he wouldn’t have told me if this hadn’t happened. But I was loved, and that made all the difference.

This fact made Inka’s betrayal all the more difficult to deal with.

Honestly, I can’t understand the mentality of people who let fear rule their lives and hearts. We hadn’t changed other thanour bodies. Inka and I remained untouched inside. To my way of thinking, surely that was all that mattered.

However, terror, a powerful emotion, breeds in others. Hatred and cruelty stems from fear. As you read on, you will see what happened to the innocents caught up in this terrible nightmare. People react differently to threats or perceived ones.

???

Once, I would have thought Kaltons above such negative emotions, but obviously, they weren’t. As I have previously stated, Kaltos was meant to be an enlightened, superior race. Kaltons were meant to have put war, hunger, and starvation behind us. Our lives were planned routes meant to be full of carousing and happiness.

Nothing had prepared us for what two wicked assholes would do.

The men, Claudias and Maurick, in their infinite wisdom, had decided that their warped ideas took precedence over everyone and everything else. Their goal wasn’t knowledge but achieving immortality for our people and claiming the credit. Both wished to be worshipped.

Only, everything turned terribly wrong.

Claudias and Maurick had only seen what they wished and had overlooked the consequences. They had unleashed twenty-four monsters into the community. Kaltos didn’t want this and wasn’t prepared for it.

Once again, genetic tampering was forbidden. Not a surprise, really.